An art deco gem
|Published
Durban - The old picture featured this week takes in Durban’s acclaimed art deco Enterprise Building.
Published on May 13, 1979, the caption reads: “The Enterprise Building in Aliwal Street – one of the last apartment blocks left in Durban’s fringe central district – has been sold for R110 000.
“The deal was negotiated by Keith Knowler of JH Isaacs Geshen who have been agents for the property for the last 40 years. The eight storey building has two ground floor shops, 35 bachelor flats and 30 1-bedroom apartments.”
The building, at 47 Samora Machel (Aliwal) Street, was designed by architect AA Ritchie MacKinley, and was his first high-rise building. It was erected in 1931 and has a classic art deco design.
The building is known for its interesting motifs. The winged eagles above the door, which is two storeys high, is currently used by Durban’s Art Deco Society as its logo. There are also two mythical griffins on the setback between the sixth and seventh storeys. Zigzags and chevrons complete the picture.
It was also the first art deco building in Durban displaying the Roman fasces. These were bundles of rods, often tied with an axe as an emblem of power, which were carried by lictors, ancient Roman officials, before the superior magistrates. It is unsure whether these might indicate sympathy with the advent of Mussolini and fascism in Italy on the part of the architect or client.
Today the building is still used as residential apartments as Shelley Kjonstad’s pictures show.
The Independent on Saturday