The Durban Club, shortly after it opened in 1904.
The old picture this week features the Durban Club premises on what was then the Victoria Embankment, today Margaret Mncadi Ave. It is from the Facebook group Durban Down Memory lane, and was probably taken shortly after the clubhouse was built in 1904.
On June 14, 1854, 20 prominent Durban residents signed an agreement to form the first D'Urban Club, named after Sir Benjamin D'Urban, Governor of the Cape Colony. The new club was to be used for the playing of billiards, chess and as a reading and newsroom.
In February 1855 a piece of land was purchased in Smith Street from the widow Strydom for £15. The clubhouse they built was a wood and thatch structure some 9m by 6m, the ground was hardened with lime refuse.
In 1861 the members decided that a new, more permanent clubhouse needed to be built. They bought a piece of land adjoining the first clubhouse for £1 045 and a new double story clubhouse was built. The Natal Mercury of October 2, 1863 wrote: "The new club, with its handsome pilastered front, is the finest building in town." In 1879 the club was extended by duplicating the frontage of the building westward replacing the old wood and thatch building which had housed the billiard room and library.
