Durban - Muckleneuk was built in 1914 by sugar magnate Sir Marshall Campbell. On the corner of Marriott and Essenwood roads, the house is in the Cape Dutch revival style.
Campbell named his home after his father’s farm, Muckle Neuk, at Umdloti. Bought in 1857, Campbell sr first grew arrowroot and then sugar. The farm’s name was derived from the big bend on the Umdloti River.
The picture of the red bougainvillea on the pergola at the entrance to the house was specially painted in 1924 by E Struben for a book on South African gardens.
In 1965, the house and the Campbell Collections were bequeathed to the University of KwaZulu-Natal. The recent photo shows the same pergola lined with cars of the staff and visitors using the Killie Campbell Library. Killie (1881-1965) was the daughter of Sir Marshall Campbell.
The black-and-white photo, from the Campbell Collection, captures the renowned gardens, probably in the 1940s. Although the stone walls and steps descending to each terrace survive, most of the original plantings have gone, as the recent photo shows. All the pictures were supplied by Mark Levin.