Durban - The old picture this week comes from our archives and features a business integrally linked with Durban’s shipping history that once stood at 32 Victoria Embankment, now Magaret Mncadi Avenue.
The original picture by James Hutton was published on October 28, 1968 with the caption: “Cayzer House on the Victoria Embankment in Durban, which is being demolished to make way for a new multi-storey, multi-million rand building for Cayzer Irvine (South Africa).”
The sign on Cayzer House above the door reads Cayzer, Irvine South Africa (Pty) Ltd.
While we recently featured the 50-year history of Durban’s Roma Revolving Restaurant, the multi-storey building referred to is what is today John Ross House.
It was designed by architects Hesketh & Driman and was completed in 1973. With 33 floors, it stands 109.1m high. At the time, it was the tallest building in Durban. Today it is the city’s 15th tallest.
Terry Toohey on the website Durban Down Memory Lane remembers the building going up. “John Ross House was built and owned by Cayzer Irvine. They rented flats in the lower floors while the construction of the higher floors, which included the Roma Revolving Restaurant, was still in process. I know all about that because I was an employee at that time of Cayzer Irvine and was a tenant in their building for an enjoyable period. The view of the inner harbour from my flat was tremendous,” he writes.
Also in the original picture is the branding for Clan Line, founded by Charles Cayzer in Liverpool in 1877 to operate passenger routes between Britain and Bombay. The next year, Captain William Irvine joined the company and it was renamed Cayzer, Irvine & Company.
In 1881 the company was joined by a Glasgow businessman and his firm of Thomas Dunlop & Sons, and the Clan Line Association of Steamers was established. They soon expanded their operations to South Africa. By the 1930s the company was the largest cargo carrying concern in the world.
In 1956, under the impetus of Nicholas Cayzer, the Clan Line joined with the Union-Castle Line, King Line and Bullard King & Company to form British & Commonwealth Shipping Limited.
The Clan Line ceased trading in 1981 with the final voyage made by MV Clan Macgregor.
Today’s picture by Shelley Kjonstad shows a very different looking embankment.
The Independent on Saturday