The old pictures this week feature Durban’s famed four-star Elangeni Hotel, built by hotel magnate Sol Kerzner in 1971. But they present something of an enigma.
The first old picture is undated and was probably taken in the early ’70s, and shows the 21-storey hotel without its distinctive “wave” section. The second floor only has six arches to the modern building’s 10. The hotel was obviously built in two phases. The second old picture shows the hotel as we know it today. The second picture is dated 1991, but it had to have been taken before 1984 when the Maluti block next door was built. It was probably reused in 1991.
Chatting to local historians, none can remember anything but the hotel as it looks today, and it certainly looks like it was designed as a single entity. It may have been designed in total and built in stages as Kerzner managed to buy up the land on which the hotel is situated.
The hotel was built on the site of the Torquay Hotel and Carnarvon Court, and we found an old postcard of the Torquay Hotel which corresponds well to the position of the original “smaller” hotel. The Carnarvon Court site on the corner was probably added later.
Kerzner founded his hotel empire in Durban when, in 1962, he bought the Astra Hotel in Russell Street. Following the success of that property, he built South Africa's first five-star hotel in uMhlanga, with the Beverley Hills opening in December 1964. The 450-room Elangeni was next.
In 2012 the Elangeni and Maharani hotels were joined to create South Africa’s largest hotel and both underwent a R200-million upgrade. It involved the total refurbishment of the Maharani Tower, including the bedrooms, core infrastructure, the conference centre and public areas, substantial new food and beverage offerings within the Elangeni Tower, the rework of the porte cochère (entrances and vehicle entrances) and the renovation of the external façades.
The combined hotel offers 734 rooms, two well-equipped gyms, three swimming pools, one heated pool, free wi-fi connectivity, 17 meeting and conference rooms, two fully equipped business centres and 11 restaurants and bars.
The Independent on Saturday