| Date: | 1902 | Type: | Club | |
| Status: | Extant |
Click to view mapCoordinates:
29°51'39.63" S 31°01'27.57" E Alt: 6m | | Transcription of outside plaque:
THE DURBAN CLUB PROPERTY
IN 1840 THE VOLKSRAAD INSTRUCTED THAT A TOWNSHIP
SHOULD BE LAID OUT IN DURBAN, ALL LOTS ON SMITH STREET
TO HAVE A FRONTAGE OF 103 FEET (100 DUTCH FEET) AND
RUNNING BACK TO THE HIGH-WATER MARK ON THE BEACH
NOW KNOWN AS DURBAN BAY.
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THE WIDOW MARIA STRYDOM WAS GRANTED LOT 15 ON
WHICH STOOD HER FARMHOUSE FOR THE SUM OF £18•15•0.
SHE LATER SOLD THIS LAND IN TWO LOTS TO THE DURBAN
CLUB FOR A TOTAL OF £1115. THE FIRST LOT WAS SOLD IN
1855 AND THE SECOND IN 1861.
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THE FIRST CLUB HOUSE, A WOODEN BUILDING WITH A THATCHED
ROOF, WAS SITUATED ON THE CORNER OF SMITH STREET AND
WHAT WAS LATER TO BECOME DURBAN CLUB PLACE. THE SECOND
CLUB HOUSE, COMPLETED IN 1863, WAS ONE OF THE FIRST
DOUBLE-STORIED BUILDINGS IN DURBAN AND WAS BUILT
ALONGSIDE THE FIRST CLUB HOUSE.
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IN 1904 THE DURBAN CLUB, HAVING OUTGROWN ITS OLD
PREMISES IN SMITH STREET MOVED TO THE PRESENT CLUB
HOUSE OVERLOOKING THE ESPLANADE AND THE BAY.
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NOVEMBER 1988
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[103 feet = 31.4 metres]
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Transcription of inside plaque:
THE ORIGINAL CLUB BOUNDARY
It is not generally known that when the
Township of Durban was laid out by order of the
Volksraad in 1840, it was directed that all Lots
on Smith Street should "Run back to the Beach"
to the high-water mark of the Bay.
The Surveyor-General, however, preferred to
set the boundary line at the edge of solid
ground. This plaque denotes the approximate
position of that line which in due course became
the Club boundary.
The tidal swamp on the Bay side of this
line, extending to the high-water mark, was
reclaimed in 1901 using soil from the Bay, and
then leased to the Club in perpetuity with the
right to purchase later. The present building
was immediately straddling this leased
land and the Club's own property. The leased
land was finally bought outright in 1950 for
£2,408.19.2 (R4,817.92)
September 1992
2014: Accommodation section is now an hotel
(Strutt 1963:65; OD 292a) 1898
All truncated references not fully cited below are those of Joanna Walker's original text and cited in full in the 'Bibliography' entry of the Lexicon.
Books that reference Durban Club | Greig, Doreen. 1971. A Guide to Architecture in South Africa. Cape Town: Howard Timmins. pg 106 | | Picton-Seymour, Désirée. 1977. Victorian Buildings in South Africa. Cape Town: AA Balkema. pg 38, 233, 235, 236, 241, 242, 243, 244, 245 | | Picton-Seymour, Désirée. 1989. Historical Buildings in South Africa. Cape Town: Struikhof Publishers. pg 135 | | Radford, D. 2002. A Guide to the Architecture of Durban and Pietermaritzburg. Cape Town: David Philip. pg 20 | | Strutt, Daphne H . 1963. The story of the Durban Club : from Bafta to baroque. Cape Town: Howard Timmins. pg All |
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