Memorial Tower, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban

This is the Memorial Tower at the Howard College Campus at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban. It was designed by Powers & Powers and built immediately after the Second World War in 1947.

Reference:
Durban Deco Directory

Shops & Flats, Durban

This Art Deco building housing 3 shops with flats on the upper floors is in Victoria Street, Durban.

Ebrahim Court, Durban

This great little deco building, Ebrahim Court, is in the Indian quarter of Durban.

I really like the strong horizontal feel emanating from the banding at the roof line. Four and a half shops wide and only two tall helps as well.

And while the Art Deco decorative piece breaking the horizontal is good but the star-shaped element above the door is wonderful.

Victory Lounge, Durban

The Victory Lounge has been a landmark on this Durban corner, Grey and Victoria Streets, since 1946.

The building may have seen better days but it is great to see the original business still there.

No prizes for picking the portholes and squat flagpole as my favourite parts.

Reference:
Victory Lounge website

Sayed Fakroodeen Building, Durban

I was browsing through my pictures this evening looking for a building for today's blog post and came across this little beauty.

The Sayed Fakroodeen Building on the corner of Prince Edward and Cross Streets, Durban is typical of many of the buildings in and around Grey Street that belonged to local Indian businessmen. Shops at street level with a verandah providing shade for the customers on the footpath. On the upper floors, accommodation, perhaps for the traders and their families.

With the Sayed Fakroodeen Building, the second storey balcony is enclosed providing more living space and also serves as the base of an open terrace area for the third storey residents.

The Sayeed Fakroodeen who put his name to this building in 1937 may be the same man who joined with other young Muslims in Durban in 1934 to found the Muslim Darul Yatama Wal Masakeen (the Muslim Home for Orphans and Destitutes). A Sayed Fakroodeen was on that first committee in 1934, serving as Treasurer.

The Institute celebrated their 75th anniversary in 2009 and now has several homes caring for orphans and the aged.

Whether there were one or two Sayed Fakroodeens in Durban in the 1930s we can acknowledge the remarkable legacies that have been created for the city. A wonderful Art Deco building with shops and accommodation and, with a group of associates, an organisation looking after the less fortunate of the Durban Muslim community.

References:
Durban Art Deco website
History of Muslims in South Africa, A Chronology by Ebrahim Mahomed Mahida
Darul Yatama Wal Masakeen website

Empire Court, Durban

Empire Court in one of many Art Deco style buildings in the Grey Street district of Durban. It is a substantial building with shops at street level and apartments on the two upper floors.

Grey Street is the Indian part of town and that is reflected in many of the buildings from the 1930s and 40s that bear the family names of the local businesses. Another common theme for building names in this area is the British Empire as is the case here. Of course both South Africa and India were part of the British Empire.

Empire Court dates from around 1937 and the facade has a rich mixture of Art Deco elements. Diamonds, horizontal stepped lines and many other patterns comprising of geometric shapes. Also of note are the decorative flagpole holders and it is a shame that the flagpoles themsleves are no longer present.

The building addresses its corner site with a curved verandah and balcony but the roofline maintains the rectangular lines of the rest of the building. This reminds me of the corner section of Wikianos Supermarket in Asmara, although in that case the roofline extends over the lower floors provding shade for the balcony area where Empire Court appears to have an open terrace above its curved balcony.

Reference:
Durban Deco Directory

Broadway Court, Durban

Broadway Court in Durban was designed by Obel & Frolich and constructed in 1937.

Reference: Broadway Court, artefacts.co.za

Surrey Mansions, Durban

Tomorrow, at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban, at 4:30 am (!!!) Australian Eastern Standard Time, the Australian football (soccer) team, the Socceroos, take on Germany in their first game of the 2010 World Cup.

So it's an early night and an early wake-up call for me but not before I show you one of the best Art Deco buildings in Durban.

Surrey Mansions dates from 1934. It was designed by Langton & Barbourne and is a knock-out building.

There is some decoration at ground level, especially around the entrance but most of the action is high up on the top floors.

One the small rounded balcony and along the wall below the open terrace, panels featuring stylised Art Deco floral forms are separated by groupings of five chevrons.

The most striking elements are, however, the series of winged lions that sit on the spandrels between the windows, each one decorated with pieces of broken glass or tile.

Winged creatures are a feature of Durban Art Deco as the birds on Broadwindsor and the mythical creatures on the Enterprise Building and Victoria Mansions attest.

Reference: Durban Art Deco website

Old Mutual Building, Durban

While nowhere as grand as the former Old Mutual headquarters in Cape Town, the Old Mutual building in Durban has a certain substance and style to it.

I photographed it in 2003 and I haven't been able to find out much about it.

Emporis.com lists a postmodern skyscraper as the Old Mutual Centre in Durban and one of the photos on their site shows this older building sitting in the shadows of the skyscraper.

A more concerning report, however, on realestateweb.com.za from November 2009 details the refurbishment of Mutual Mall including this paragraph.

The four previous structures included the magnificent 31-storey A-grade tenanted office block, Old Mutual Centre; 300 Smith Street, which is an economical 18-storey office block which has undergone an upgrade to an A-grade building; and Gardiner House and Mutual Building which were demolished to create additional parking - about 400 additional bays resulted in a total of 800 bays (3 per 100m²).

I don't know for sure but this doesn't read well for the Old Mutual buildng in my photo.

Berea Court, Durban

Berea Court (1935) was designed by architects Langton & Barbourne and sits on a busy thoroughfare in Durban.

The face of the building features lions heads, stylised sunbursts and a single balcony on the top floor. The entrance is very handsome and the addition of a modern security gate has been done in a respectful way.

At the rear, the apartments are accessed via long cantileveled walkways while the liftshaft features a variety of geometric shaped windows.

One of the main features of Berea Court however, is the nautical themed leadlight windows in the apartment doors on the lower floors. They are all different with ships on some and lighthouses on others.

On the upper floors the leadlight windows are simple floral forms, a theme that is repeated in the interior doors.

Albany Hotel, Durban

This is the Albany Hotel in Durban.