Adderley Street

Adderley Street is a street in the central business district (CBD) of Cape Town, South Africa. It is considered the main street of the area.

The street bisects the CBD. It runs from the Parliament of South Africa at the south, past numerous office buildings and hotels, and becomes Heerengraght Street (the old main street of the CBD) at the north end, passing the Cape Town International Convention Centre, traveling under the N1 freeway, and terminating at the Port of Cape Town.

The street was originally named Heerengracht, after the canal ("gracht") which ran down its centre, and which had its origins in the rivers from Table Mountain. At the time the street was more of a wide walkway beside the canal, which was crossed by various stone bridges.

The network of canals were covered over, throughout Cape Town, in the 1860s. The Heerengracht river and canal therefore became an underground pipe-line. For many years the street was residential, lined with large oak trees, but by 1850 it had become strongly commercial in character.

MayorHercules Jarvis named it Adderley Street in 1850, to honour British Parliamentarian Charles Bowyer Adderley (elevated to the peerage as Baron Norton in 1878) who fought successfully against the plan for the British government to make Cape Town into another penal colony.^[1]

Adderley Street was the original main street of the city centre shopping district with large department stores such as Stuttafords (SW corner of Hout Street, going through to St Georges Mall, now Edgars et al.), Garlicks (at Exchange Place across from Cape Town railway station),^[2] Fletcher & Cartwrights, and Thomas, Watson & Co. In the late 1800s the street was a "riot of ornament" along which around 150 retail shops plied their trade, many with wrought iron decorating the outsides of their buildings.^[3] The street remains a retail centre today, with branches of Woolworths, Edgars, Truworths and shopping centres such as the Golden Acre with Ackermans, Shoprite and Mr Price.^[4]

It also has long been a financial centre with the Colonial Bank located on the site of the Stuttafords Building until 1890, and the imposing Standard Bank Building on the east side at Hout Street. The upper end marked political and religious authority, the location of St. George's Cathedral and the Supreme Court of South Africa.^[3]

Most of Adderley Street features two lanes running in each direction, divided by a paved section with trees. Each side of the road is flanked by sidewalks for pedestrians (with numerous crosswalks along the street), and off-street parking. The left side of the road features a dedicated cycle lane.

The Adderley Street MyCiTi Bus Station, part of the City of Cape Town'sbus rapid transit system, is located on Adderley Street, where it intersects with Riebeek Street. It is situated at the entrance of Cape Town Station, part of the city's Metrorailtrain network. The segment of the street around the BRT station features dedicated, specially-paved bus lanes on both sides. It is at this point that Adderley Street is its widest, at 8 lanes plus sidewalks.

At the north end of Adderley Street is Company's Garden, a large public park that sits next to the Parliament of South Africa. Company's Garden is the oldest garden in South Africa, and a National Heritage Site.

En el punto donde la calle Adderley se convierte en la calle Heerengracht, en medio de una gran rotonda, se encuentra la fuente de la calle Adderley, situada en medio de un pequeño parque público con palmeras .

En la parte alta de la calle Adderley, junto a la entrada del Jardín de la Compañía, se encuentra la Casa de los Esclavos . Originalmente una casa de esclavos, luego se convirtió en oficinas gubernamentales, después en la antigua Corte Suprema de Sudáfrica y, finalmente, en lo que es hoy: el Museo de Historia Cultural Sudafricana, que forma parte de los Museos Iziko de Sudáfrica . Es uno de los edificios más antiguos de Ciudad del Cabo.

La calle Adderley alberga numerosos edificios de oficinas, incluido Foreshore Place (anteriormente ABSA Centre), que se completó en 1970, ^{[ 5 ]} y actualmente es el sexto edificio más alto de Ciudad del Cabo .

• 
  Calle Adderley, década de 1870
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  Calle Adderley, c. 1900
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  Estación de tren de Ciudad del Cabo en la calle Adderley, 1909.
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  Calle Adderley, Ciudad del Cabo en la década de 1950, vista hacia el sur desde la calle Strand.
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  Grandes almacenes Stuttafords en Adderley Street, 1957
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  Archie Mafeje (derecha) con Welsh Makanda en agosto de 1961.

• estación de tren de Ciudad del Cabo
• Jardín de la empresa
• Groote Kerk
• Sitios del patrimonio nacional de Sudáfrica
• Albergue de esclavos

• Contenido multimedia relacionado con Adderley Street, Ciudad del Cabo, en Wikimedia Commons.
• Guía de viajes online de Sudáfrica - Calle Adderley
• Ensayos sobre tortugas