About the Durban Art Deco Society
THE SOCIETY
The Durban Art Deco Society (founded
in 1999) is a small group of enthusiastic people who try to encourage owners of
Art Deco style buildings to be aware of their Art Deco heritage, offer advice
on restoration / repainting, and organise lectures / tours, etc. The
society also has a room at Surrey Mansions where archival information and their
collection of books about Art Deco are kept – this is open to members and
interested persons at specific times. The Durban Art Deco Society is also
present on facebook and is showcased in the
glossy print travel magazine 5 Star Durban. Further photo's of some
Durban Art Deco buildings may be found on tourism sites such as this. Colour specialist Anne Roselt provides
an interesting review of selected buildings.

THE
BUILDINGS
Durban
has a number of very fine examples of this important style, mostly residential
blocks built between 1930 and 1940, and include among others: Broadwindsor and
Manhattan Court in Dr Yusuf Dadoo Street; Enterprise Building in Samora Machel
Street; Victoria Mansions and Willern Court on Margaret Mncadi Avenue; Berea
Court on Berea Road, Cheviot Court in Musgrave Road and Surrey Mansions in
Currie Road.
For
a virtual tour of the city's Art Deco heritage visit the Durban Deco
Directory or download our architecture fact sheet.
A focus on art deco maintenance and
a more general account of Durban's architecture are
provided.

THE
CONTEXT
A
characteristic of Durban’s Art Deco buildings is the pilasters which are round
or square pillars attached to the building. They go the whole height of the
building getting more and more enriched with elements of fauna, flora, fish and
birds, some mythical creatures, and sometimes finishing with crenelations. The
purpose of this device is to carry your eyes up the building and it works very
well. Many of them have well designed courtyards or back of building
stairwells. We have two buildings with a zigzag design on the building, the
earliest style.
