Residential landmark now a commercial zone
THE OLD picture this week features Tinsley House on the corner of Musgrave and St Thomas roads on Durban’s Berea. In the background you can see Holy Trinity Catholic Church on the opposite corner, and behind that the block 206 Musgrave.
The picture was published on November 1, 1989, with the caption. “Letting agent Chris Winer, left, and project manager Chris Watkins (seen in the distant left corner of the picture) outside Tinsley House.
“As Durban residents fiercely contest plans to convert a R1m Essenwood Road home into offices, another of the Berea’s buildings has lost its residential status. Situated on the corner of Musgrave and St Thomas roads, Tinsley House has, after a lengthy battle by the developer, been rezoned from residential home to office usage.
“Owner Fred Watkins points to a host of other old Berea homes which might otherwise have fallen into disrepair if the city council had not allowed
them to be converted into offices.”
The building, with an address at 225 Musgrave Road, is a classic example of the Berea Style and was designed by Chick and Bartholomew and erected in 1943.
In the book The Berea Style, Michele
Jacobs and Brian Kearney write: “It had high, hipped tiled roofs which acknowledged the corner in an overpowering manner, though the corner entrance with its modulations, flattened curved pediment was most inventive and successful.
“Alongside these were egg-shaped casement windows with curved hood mouldings and above these a variation of a Venetian window – three casements with the central one taller and the outer ones having the same egg profile in glazing bars.”
Many businesses have since operated here, and the Canadian Consulate once occupied its upper floors.
Shelley Kjonstad’s picture, taken this week, shows the addition of an outside verandah structure attached to the building.