Durban - The old picture today takes in Durban’s Maharani Hotel which opened in 1978 with great excitement over the exterior lift with magnificent ocean views.
The picture was published in the Daily News on March 1, 1978, with another showing former Miss South Africa Vera Johns throwing the switch, “sending the outside scenic lift at the new Maharani Hotel on its maiden official trip”.
When the hotel was built, at 33 storeys or 118m high, it was the tallest building in Durban. Today it is the 7th highest.
It was built by Sol Kerzner’s Sun International on the site of the old Myhill Mansions and Rialto Court.
On the website Facts about Durban, Desmond Tuck, whose father owned Myhill Mansions, writes about Kerzner trying to buy up the whole block. “Mentone Court was owned by Jack Blumenthal. Sol Kerzner was buying up the block and Jack didn’t like him so he refused to sell, and said he’d have to get it over his dead body. They first built Elangeni on the site of the Torquay Hotel and Carnarvon Court, and then the Maharani on the site of Myhill Mansions and Rialto Court. Then eventually someone bought the Mentone site and built Maluti.”
The Maharani was famed for its Raffles nightclub at the top of that outdoor lift. Ladies nights at Raffles were legendary according to many on the Durban Down Memory Lane Facebook group. Today it is simply known as Sky and serves as a function venue.
The Maharani, with its 285 rooms, was combined with the Elangeni after a major facelift costing more than R200 million in 2014. It created the biggest hotel in South Africa with 734 rooms, two well-equipped gyms, three swimming pools ‒ one heated ‒ free wifi, 17 meeting and conference rooms, two fully-equipped business centres and 11 restaurants and bars.
The Independent on Saturday