The old picture this week is from our archives and shows a two-storey building at 84-88 Russell (today Joseph Nduli) Street. It was published in April 1991 with the caption: “This landmark Cape Dutch style building on the corner of Russell and St Georges streets is being auctioned by JH Isaacs on April 25.”
Little is known about the history of the building which today shows on Google as the Metlife Building with an address at 42 Maud Mfusi (St Georges Street). The building is not technically on the corner either but is behind a block of flats on the corner and continues behind the block to St Georges Street giving it an address on both streets.
Looking as though it was meant to house an institution of some kind, I initially thought it might have been the original building of Young Ladies College, which opened in Russell Street in 1888 before moving to the Berea in 1906 to become Durban Girls’ College. But while the style of the gables was similar, they are not the same building. College Lane, which runs parallel to St Georges Street, points to where the college probably originally stood ‒ on the next door stand. It also has nothing to do with the Convent School which was on St Andrews Street.
As photographer Shelley Kjonstad’s pictures today show, the front of the car park is a row of garage-like shops and small businesses, almost completely obscuring the building. While the building still stands, it is in a poor state of repair.
The Independent on Saturday