DURBAN: This week’s pictures of old and new Durban were supplied by correspondent Mark Levin, who found pictures of the 1987 floods in an old Sunday Tribune supplement.At the end of September 1987, KwaZulu-Natal was hit by freak torrential rains. More than 300 people died, while 500 000 were left homeless. It was South Africa’s worst natural disaster.
One old Westville house in Northcliffe Avenue was partially washed away when an avalanche of water and mud cascaded through the property, taking the swimming pool with it. The house was restored, but as with many old homes, it harbours memories.
Probably built in 1924, the house stood on the corner of Jan Hofmeyr Road and Northcliffe Ave. In 1952 it was purchased by Jack Storm, the grandson of Captain William Storm, who founded the prominent shipping and stevedoring business Storm and Co in 1880.
When World War II broke out in 1939, Jack joined the anti-tank regiment and, after the battle of Sidi Resegh, was reported missing. He had been on an Italian ship carrying prisoners of war which was torpedoed. Jack managed to swim ashore and saw action at El Alamein.
After the war, control of the Storm business was secured by a cousin, leading to a permanent rift in the family. So he formed his own stevedoring company, Jack Storm (Pty) Ltd, which put him in competition with the original family business. His business prospered and in 1952 he purchased the rambling Northcliffe Avenue house, where he raised his five children, Mike, Peter, Anthony, Sally and Anne.
The youngest son, Tony, recalls a carefree boyhood playing tennis on their clay court, which had to be rolled and marked each time they used it. After tennis matches the children cooled off in the large, oval pool.
The Storms were one of two families to still keep stables in Northcliffe Ave in the 1950s and 60s, and Tony rode either of his two horses, Burmar or Pride, almost every day. On one occasion his horses escaped and were found near the present-day Blue Heights Centre.
He would ride to the Westville pool, which opened in 1960, and hitch his horse outside the entrance. He recalls that a neighbouring property still had a cow in the yard.
Tony went to Westville High School when it was still co-ed, and matriculated at Weston College.
At one time the Storms employed a dozen staff, including two nannies, for the younger children, and two chauffeurs.
Jack Storm died in his home in 1979, aged 73. He had been a Westville councillor, commodore of the Royal Natal Yacht Club from 1955-1957 and president of the SA Yachting Association.
His widow stayed on at the house, which had been converted into maisonettes, with Tony’s older brother, Peter, living downstairs before the property was sold in the 1980s. By then it had been subdivided. On the Jan Hofmeyr frontage, a hotel, Westville Manors, was built. It was later demolished for a five-storey apartment block, now nearing completion.
For the past 14 years, the Nisbet family have owned the downstairs maisonette. They recently celebrated son Luke’s 32nd birthday. Another product of Westville Boys’, Luke is a Springbok paddler and Iron Man.