Durban - This week’s picture takes in Roberts Court, one of a series of Durban Corporation-built apartment blocks at 452 Umbilo Road. Umbilo Road was already one way when the picture was taken.
The picture was published in a Daily News property supplement on August 16, 1974 with the caption: “Some of the most popular and best cared for corporation flats are the seven small blocks dotted along Umbilo Road. The flats are only 4km from the city hall”.
Part of a series of social housing built after World War II for returning servicemen, these very similar looking blocks made appearances in a number of Durban suburbs.
Built in the late 1940s, in addition to the blocks in Umbilo Road, there was the Selborne Road Housing Scheme and Kenneth Gardens in Sphiwe Zuma (Queen Mary) Avenue and Kirkwood Gardens in Stamford Hill Road. There are also blocks near the Botanic Gardens and another in Woodlands.
Besides Roberts Court, named for Field Marshal Lord Roberts, next door is a block named Buller Court after General Sir Redvers Buller, both British commanders during the Boer War. The third block is Wolseley Court named for Major-General Garnet Wolseley, who besides conducting various campaigns in Canada, is best known for his Ashanti campaign in West Africa before he became the commander of the forces of Natal in 1875.
The blocks of flats are opposite what is today Resistance Park, which commemorates many of the city’s Struggle heroes. Little has changed in almost 50 years as photographer Shelley Kjonstad’s pictures taken this week show.
The Independent on Saturday