HOW HALLMARK HOUSE LIVES

It’s been five years since David Adjaye’s Hallmark House broke ground, and its first generation has made it home

- GARRETH VAN NIEKERK

When Hallmark House launched in Johannesburg’s Ellis Park precinct, the developers asked a simple question in their campaign material: ‘Would you live here?’ It was, in fact, a big question for their new investors in CBD developments, particularly for one of the country’s most ambitious inner-city residential schemes. The multi-billion Rand project brought in super-starchitect Sir David Adjaye to reimagine the giant residential tower, who said at the time, ‘I am very excited about Hallmark House. I could have gone anywhere in SA and built a luxury living space, but my focus is redeveloping buildings in areas with strong potential. This part of Johannesburg has tremendous potential and Hallmark House will be the start of a new wing of Maboneng for the city.’

Investors scrambled to get their piece of the action, but since the initial success of Hallmark House’s launch and first phase – which includes (over and above the residential component) retail spaces such as a barber, restaurants like the famous Marabi Jazz Club, and its namesake boutique hotel and spa — the building’s enormous promise drove to a grinding halt. When the news broke that Maboneng’s developers Propertuity had gone into liquidation, any further investment in the project stalled. It left the building’s first generation in a kind of property limbo, waiting for their dream of Hallmark House to be realised.