in mid-1964. During the city's construction, the chairman of Gaberones Township Authority, Geoffrey Cornish, likened the layout of the city to a "brandy glass" with the government offices in the base of the glass and businesses in the "mall", a strip of land extending from the base.

Most of the early town was built within three years, as a small town designed to accommodate 20,000 people - only to later develop after independence into a modern city. Buildings in early Gaborone include assembly buildings, government offices, a power station,