Ponte City Apartments

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Coordinates: 26°11′26″S, 28°3′25.5″E

Ponte City Apartments (left) with Hillbrow Tower and the skyline of Hillbrow
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Ponte City Apartments (left) with Hillbrow Tower and the skyline of Hillbrow

Ponte City Apartments is a skyscraper in the Hillbrow neighbourhood of Johannesburg, South Africa. It was built in 1975 to a height of 173 metres, making it the tallest residential skyscraper in the southern hemisphere. It was an extremely desirable address for its views over all of Johannesburg and its surroundings, but after the end of apartheid many gangs moved into the building and it had become extremely unsafe. There were some proposals in the mid-1990s to turn the building into a highrise prison. The building is now under new management which has improved security as well as the standard of repair.[1]

The sign on top of the building is the highest and largest sign in the southern hemisphere. It currently advertises the South African mobile phone company Vodacom.

German novelist Norman Ohler wrote a novel set in the building: "Ponte City" (by David Philips Publishing, Cape Town)

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Skyscrapers of Johannesburg Johannesburg Logo
11 Diagonal Street | 120 End Street | Absa Tower | Carlton Centre | Eskom Centre | Exchange Square | Hekro Towers | Highpoint Hillbrow | IBM Building | Kine Centre | KwaDukuza eGoli Hotel | Logistics House | Lucs Building | Marble Towers | Mariston Hotel | Ponte City Apartments | Radiopark | Schlesinger Building | Southern Life Centre | Standard Bank Centre | Trust Bank Building | Tygerberg building