Then and Now: Durban's Sunken Gardens

History

Frank Chemaly|Published

The Sunken Gardens in Durban were developed in the mid 1930s.

Image: Supplied.

A very early photograph of the Sunken Gardens, built in the mid-1930s as a public works project to provide employment during the Great Depression. The building on the right is The Cumberland, also constructed in the mid-1930s, before a tower block was added on the land behind it in the 1960s. The hotel visible on the left is the Seaside Hotel — now known as Windermere Flats. The Sunken Gardens are believed to have been developed to create jobs for the unemployed.

The Sunken Gardens as it looks today.

Image: Leon Lestrade