The Rand Club polishes its silver to draw former plebs

In an effort to remain relevant and financially viable, the once colonial, white males only stronghold has opened its doors to non-membersTucked away in a corner on the first floor, the Rand Club's library is a storehouse of historic texts. Picture: SANET OBERHOLZER

In all its opulence, the Rand Club continues to be a space of historical juxtapositions. Picture: SANET OBERHOLZER Books praising the heroines of the Boer War as well as the most recent South African publications — including a novel by Deon Meyer and a biography of the life of Pixley ka Isaka Sema written by Bongani Ngqulunga — are on display, inviting bookworms to a literary feast previously forbidden between these walls.

The Rand Club was conceptualised by Rhodes in 1887, a year after Johannesburg was founded, when he wandered in search of a spot on which to build a gentleman’s club. Standing at the junction of Commissioner Street, the first street in Johannesburg, and what came to be known as Loveday Street, Rhodes announced: “This corner will do for the club.

In 2015, the Rand Club went into hibernation. As Alicia Thompson, deputy chair of the club and the chair of the events committee, explains: “It never officially closed. It was a period of 10 months but the club was still active thanks to the reciprocity offered by other clubs in Johannesburg ... we just didn’t use our own building.”

Just before the Easter weekend, the Rand Club, with its new in-house caterer French Corner, launched its new hot lunch and dinner menu, which is open to anyone who wants to be served in the moody main bar where, it is rumoured, the Jameson Raid was plotted. At 31.2m long, it’s the longest in Africa. They will run weekly specials that will incorporate old Rand Club favourites such as marrow bones and Rogan Josh.

Refurbishment of the billiards room is well underway as is the development of a Victorian tea room in the basement, where they will host high teas. The Rand Club is not only in a unique building; it is a unique space that, in its quiet grandeur, houses very conflicting histories. In this historically exclusive space, passionate members are working hard to make it more inclusive and to keep it viable and relevant. As with the striking miners who revolted against the mining magnates in 1913, it still encapsulates two worlds that are at odds with each other.

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