Durban - The old picture this week continues a look at the city’s own buildings and this week’s takes in the building of the Durban Publicity Association, in Church Street, near the City Hall.
The picture was published on September 12, 1979, with the caption: “Controversy over the enclosure of the verandah at the Durban Publicity Association visitor’s bureau in Church Street caused four Durban councillors to resign their membership of the association’s executive before the open council meeting on Monday. The meeting approved the alterations by 16 votes to 10.”
The Durban Publicity Association, beside assisting tourists at their visitors’ bureau, also published any number of maps, pamphlets and visitor guides to the city. It also published brochures commemorating the city’s history, and publications aimed at attracting industry to the city.
There were pamphlets published for servicemen stationed in Durban during the war, as well as souvenir programmes for royal visits and important events. These are of great value to local historians and feature prominently on the website Facts About Durban, yet little is available on the association itself online today.
On the Facebook page Durban Down Memory Lane, Terry Toohey, who worked at the association, published a Jock Leyden cartoon showing some of the impossible tourists the bureau had to deal with.
The modern picture taken by Shelley Kjonstad this week shows the building with its enclosed veranda built after this dramatic municipal storm in a tea cup. Today it houses the Pretty Ladies boutique. The old Durban Publicity Association morphed into Durban Tourism which is today based in Florida Road.
The Independent on Saturday