Durban - The old picture this week features Doddington Court at 160 Margaret Mncadi Avenue (Victoria Embankment), one of the influential buildings in the development of Durban’s Berea style.
The picture was published in The Mercury on March 15, 1995, with the caption: “For the first time in 30 years, Doddington Court, which fronts the Victoria Embankment in Durban, is to be sold. Ferdie Meischke, a director of RMS Syfrets, will auction the three-storey building on March 23. He said yesterday that the 1926 building, rich in architectural form, consists of six spacious flats in one of the most sought-after strips of Durban real estate.”
Doddington Court was designed by architect Arthur Ritchie MacKinlay. Construction started in 1925 and was completed the following year. It was built by Messrs Dow and Dale and used bricks from the Coronation Brick & Tile Company.
The original drawing of Doddington Court is part of a collection housed in the UKZN Architecture Library which is managed by Michele Jacobs. It is featured in the book The Berea Style: The Architecture of William Murray-Jones and Arthur Ritchie MacKinlay by Jacobs and Prof Brian Kearney. The book is still available at R350 from gijimajacobs@gmail.com
Ritchie MacKinlay was born on November 25, 1894, the son of J Ritchie MacKinlay, a Glasgow-born builder and contractor who emigrated to South Africa in 1888, setting up business in Pietermaritzburg.
The younger MacKinlay may have served his articles with Ing & Anderson, which was his father’s wish, but according to some sources he was articled to Sir Mervyn MacCartney, Surveyor to the Fabric of St Paul’s, London, and studied in Rome, Athens and Constantinople, before returning to South Africa to practise from 1918.
MacKinlay practised in Durban and Pietermaritzburg and later back to Durban and formed various partnerships during his career. It was in Durban between 1928 and 1939 where he built up a considerable practice and developed his expression of a coherent modern style. The theatrical Italianate style of his buildings anticipates his involvement with stylish Art Deco later.
In about 1940 he moved to Cape Town. He died on July 25, 1961.
Nearly 100 years later the building still stands today as Shelley Kjonstad’s picture shows. Ironically, almost 30 years later, it has another auction sign attached to it, this one supposedly taking place at the Oyster Box Hotel last year. It could not be confirmed whether the building sold at that auction, or why the sign is still up.
The Independent on Saturday