Doornfontein Accommodation

Doornfontein is a suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa, and is located just to the east of the city centre. The area of Doornfontein, which means thorn fountain, was originally the southern part of a farm owned by Frederick Jacobus Bezuidenhout, and was proclaimed a public diggings after the discover of gold on the Witwatersrand in 1886. In the late 1880s Thomas Yeo laid out the suburb which became the first residential suburb of Johannesburg. In 1897 the freehold of the suburb was bought by a company owned by the mining magnate Barney Barnato, and the district became known as Millionaires Row. Shortly after the Anglo-Boer War this changed as many of the wealthier residents moved north to Parktown, and Doornfontein became home to a large number of Jewish immigrants. During the Great Depression large parts of Doornfontein were bought up by property speculators and turned into slum housing or yards. These areas were cleared in the mid 1930s and became light industrial manufacturing areas. Large areas of the suburb are now occupied by the Technikon Witwatersrand, which is now a part of the University of Johannesburg, Ellis Park Stadium and Johannesburg (Athletics) Stadium. The Johannesburg meeting house of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) has been situated at 3 Gordon Terrace since the late 1950s. The area has undergone substantial transport renewal in preparation for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in soccer, most noticeably with the introduction of a key route of the rapid transit bus system.