The Carlton Centre is a skyscraper and shopping centre located in downtown Johannesburg, South Africa.

 At 223 metres (732 ft), it has been the tallest building in Africa for 39 years. 

The Carlton Centre has 50 floors. The foundations of the two buildings in the complex are 5 m (16 ft) in diameter and extend 15 m (49 ft) down to the bedrock, 35 m (115 ft) below street level. The building houses both offices and shops, and has over 46 per cent of the floor area below ground level. The Carlton Centre is linked to the Carlton Hotel by a below-ground shopping centre with over 180 shops as well as an ice skating rink all set below an above-ground public plaza

Facts about Carlton Centre

• There is an observation deck on the 50th floor giving a birds eye view of the city of Johannesburg.
• Carlton Centre was sold in 1999 for R33 million (US$3.3 million) and now houses the head office of Transnet, the South African Transport parastatal.
• The centre has the largest city parking arcade in South Africa.
• Carlton Centre was the tallest building in the southern hemisphere when completed and is still the tallest building in Africa.
• The buildings have a reinforced concrete structure with an exposed exterior aggregate and an integral finish of local gray granite exposed by sand blasting.
• The tower has spandrel beams supporting ribbed slabs at each floor level.
• The foundations of the two buildings in the complex are 3.5m in diameter and extend 20m down to the bedrock, 30m below street level.
• The tower has a slip formed reinforced concrete core and perimeter columns tapering from three square meters at street level to one square meter at the top floors.
• The Carlton Centre is linked to the Carlton Hotel by a below ground shopping centre with over 180 shops as well as an ice skating rink all set below an above ground public plaza.

                                             The tower on the left, with the mothballed hotel on the right

This building has a very interesting story (much more so than the understated, bland architecture). It is the highest office building on the African continent, and was built in 1973. Designed by architects Skidmore&Owens. A huge sprawling complex, which in its heyday featured an ice rink and a five star hotel. Both bit the dust due to severe inner city decline during the 1990's, with the 600 room Carlton Hotel closing its doors in 1998.

The building was empty, a ghost of its glorious past. in 1999 the entire complex, compromising the empty 600room 30F hotel, the 50F, 70 000m2 office block, the 50 000m2 shopping mall and the 2500 car parkade sold to a measly 33million Rand to a transport/rail company. This is equivalent to about Usd$4.7million at current exchange rates. Today it is fully let, the shopping mall is filled to the brim - with designer shops returning. The Hotel is still mothballed, and will probably be redeveloped as an apartment/rental pool complex.

And it is on sale again... But this time estimates are that it will sell for between R500million ($72million US) and R1billion ($144million US). it is still cheap (to replace it will cost at least R1,5billion.)

Needless to say there is a lot of interest in this building, a true landmark in Johannesburg.