Wool merchants part of the fabric of Durban streetscape

Mark Levin

The links to Durban's wool trade in the previous two articles are continued in this week's "Then and Now". Reid & Acutt was one of the oldest wool brokers in Durban. Started by Robert Nobel Acutt and George Reid in 1877, it originally traded not only in wool but also in ivory, rhinoceros horn and ostrich feathers.

Initially, it handled only about 40 bales of wool a day, but by 1905 the firm handled nearly three-fifths of the wool produce of Natal. At that time, the total overseas export of wool through Port Natal represented one-eighth in money value of the colony's exports.

After the firm outgrew its small premises in Pine Street, it purchased a site at 303 Smith Street where it built a handsome three-storey building in the popular Flemish Renaissance Revival style. Behind the offices and sale room were extensive warehouses which were later extended to Gardiner Street.

Next door on the corner of Durban Club Place, their neighbour was the equally handsome Club Arcade, erected in 1901. Eventually, even 303 Smith Street proved inadequate for the expanding business, prompting Reid & Acutt to sell their prestigious building to the auctioneers, Hugh M. Thompson & Co, which had been established in 1910 and would remain there for the next few decades.

Both 303 Smith Street and Club Arcade were demolished in the early 1960s to make way for the Netherlands Bank. Later known as the Nedbank Building, it is the only example of Norman Eaton’s work in Durban. Sadly, the banking hall remains empty while the owners struggle to find a suitable tenant for this striking piece of architecture.

After Reid & Acutt disposed of their Smith Street premises, they moved to the Victoria Embankment which quickly became the centre of the wool trade in Durban. A large warehouse was built in Mona Road and then another on the other side of Mona Road. The firm had, out of necessity, a branch devoted entirely to shipping, forwarding and insurance, with correspondents at the chief ports and cities.

Much of the success of Reid & Acutt in its early decades can be credited to Sidney Green, who joined the firm in 1877 as a 25-year-old junior clerk. Ten years later, he was a partner and in 1897, he became the sole proprietor. His innovative approach and vision was behind much of the growth of the wool trade in Durban.

After the Second World War, the wool district on the Esplanade began to splinter. A number of firms moved to Congella, including Reid & Acutt. And there, on the corner of Watford and Truro Roads not far from the Congella Fire Station, it closed up shop in 1970. It had been in business for 93 years.