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Where Mandela & Tambo Attorneys once flourished
Chancellor House, Johannesburg
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Ground floor window display at Chancellor House.
© Past Experiences
Did you know?
Documents, letters and previously unseen photographs are on display in the ground floor windows.
The time is the oppressive 1950s during apartheid. The place is Chancellor House, in the heart of Johannesburg’s CBD. The residents are Mandela & Tambo Attorneys who run their legal firm from these premises.
It was a brave decision by owners, the Essa family from Polokwane in Limpopo, to lease their building in a so-called 'Indian area' to 2 black African men.
Between 1952 and 1956, Nelson Mandela and Oliver Tambo had a thriving law practice, trying to help others who were accused of crimes against the state and disobeying the draconian laws of the time. Many of their clients needed help in securing passes, obligatory for black citizens to carry at all times.
Ironically, Nelson Mandela and Oliver Tambo were arrested for a crime for which many of their desperate clients had been accused, an event that ended up as the infamous Treason Trial.
When Chancellor House opened its doors once again to the public in 2010, Amos Masondo, the former Executive Mayor of Johannesburg, said that 'if bricks could talk this building would have been replete with colourful stories about the struggles for national liberation'.
For years, the former law offices had been derelict and crumbling, inhabited by squatters, but today the building has been faithfully restored with the help of old photographs.
A new roof has replaced the dilapidated one, new ground floor windows have been installed, and the 3 small rooms of the 2nd floor offices, where Nelson Mandela and Oliver Tambo once practiced as South Africa's first ever black law firm, have been re-laid with parquet flooring.
Chancellor House is now a dignified freedom struggle museum that resonates with the spirit of the 2 remarkable men who changed South African history.
Travel tips & Planning info
Who to contact
Past Experiences
Tel: +27 (0) 11 678 3905
Mobile: +27 (0) 83 701 3046
Email: www.past.experiences@hotmail.com
How to get here
Chancellor House is on the corner of Fox and Gerard Sekoto streets in Ferreirasdorp in the heart of Johannesburg’s CBD.
Tours to do
Past Experiences offer great walking trips around the inner city, including a visit to Chancellor House.
Get around
On foot. The building is not yet open to the public but the ground floor museum faces out into the street so that any member of the public can read and see the information at any time.