Mark Levin
Durban - The picture this week, from Mark Levin, is of a portion of Old Fort Road (KE Masinga) in 1965 showing repairs and improvements to the bridge over the railway line. On the lower left are the mock-Tudor buildings of the Moth Hall. On the lower right is a portion of the Drill Hall of the army volunteer regiments at Lord’s Ground. Built in 1923, the drill hall replaced the one in West Street which was demolished afterwards.
The recent photograph, taken by Levin from the top of the City Engineers Building, shows the many changes that have occurred since the old railway station was closed. Once the new station was opened, the railway lines into the city were dug up and the site developed and Old Fort Road became one-way towards the sea.
On the left McDonalds opened its first franchise in Durban and next to it is the Road Lodge. The Moth Hall closed and the building is now part of the Natural Science Museum.
On the right the Drill Hall is still visible but with the addition of new buildings that stand empty. Beyond this a variety of businesses took occupation including an Avis Car Rental and a Mercedes Benz showroom and parts division. On August 1, the showroom moved to Pinetown.
The irony is that Durban’s international sporting ground, known as Lord’s Ground, was developed on the right hand side of the road in 1895, but the need for railway expansion led to its destruction in 1923. Seventy years later, the railways no longer needed the land and all that was left of the old Lord’s was a nine-acre remnant still occupied by volunteer regiments in a crumbling and decaying drill hall.
The Independent on Saturday