Durban - Today’s Then & Now feature on fountains in the middle of Berea Road shows that, in spite of vast changes in the built environment, Durban’s summer heat is unchanged.
The old picture is from the Daily News archives and was filed with this caption, dated December 7, 1961, pasted on the back: “Ever since the set of fountains were installed on the centre islands at the foot of Berea Road by the Durban Parks Department, they have provided many a hot and tired motorist with a moment’s pleasure. Their tinkling sound and the sight of rushing water has made many a person feel cool and fresh. This week the jets of water have been allowed to shoot up particularly high ‒ as much as 8 or 10 feet at times ‒ and this picture shows the tall centre spout on one of these occasions.”
The area was something of a crossroads, with a road sign in the old picture that directs drivers to go straight ahead on their journey to Johannesburg and Pietermaritzburg, or to turn left to travel to the South Coast and Louis Botha Airport.
The electric tram lines, which powered Durban’s trams from May 1902 until August 1949, are still visible.
Gerald Buttigieg, reminiscing on the website Facts About Durban, wrote: “Berea Road in the ’50s was two lanes up and two lanes down with a wide central island in between. The Toll Gate trolley bus travelled as far as the Toll Gate, then doubled back over the then Old Toll Gate Bridge heading back to town. The Botanic Gardens (motor) bus turned right at Botanic Gardens Road, and the Musgrave Trolley at Musgrave. I cannot recall exactly when the excavation of Berea Road started and when the Western Freeway was opened, but I do recall that on the right-hand side below the Toll Gate, a whole row of houses and I think a hotel had to be expropriated and demolished to make space (for) what is now known as Berea Road North.”
The construction of the N2 and widening of Berea Road were carried out in the 1970s, and it has been renamed King Dinizulu North and South.
In spite of extensive searching, there was no word of the fate of the fountains, so they could have been demolished during the roadworks.
Independent on Saturday