Name of Artwork
David Webster Park and House

Location and Accessibility
The David Webster Park in Troyeville is bounded by Clarence, Pretoria and Beelaerts Streets. The David Webster house is located a short distance away near the top of Eleanor Street to the east of the park.

Level of Significance
Significant Group

About the Artworks
The mosaics and other artworks at the David Webster House and Park (previously known as the Maurice Freeman Park) were in varying degrees inspired by the life of David Webster, an academic and activist who was assassinated outside his home on the 1st of May 1989 by the Civil Co-Operation Bureau – a covert structure responsible for undertaking a variety of killings on behalf of the apartheid government. One of the largest ever protest marches in Johannesburg took place in response to his assassination. The notorious Ferdi Barnard was finally convicted for the killing in 1999.

Ilse Pahl designed and made the original mosaic at David Webster House on Eleanor Street. She and Andrew Lindsay of Spaza Art developed the large round floor mosaic at the park in a community-led upgrade initiative in 1996 (middle), working with homeless people from the area. The steel and wood benches (designed and made by Philip Fernandes), iron gates (Justin Wells) and domino benches (Mervyn Dowman) were part of a further publicly sponsored development in 2006. Additional mosaics were executed by Jacob Ramoboya of Spaza Art in the context of the rededication of the park to David Webster in 2009.

About the Location
Troyeville is one of the oldest suburbs of Johannesburg and has the distinction of having the largest number of churches of any neighbourhood in the city. Previously populated by miners and clerks associated with the mines, the suburb became home to a large Portuguese community. The suburb is now populated by a very diverse mix of people, including Mozambicans, Congolese and a large number of artists and creative people.