Quadrant House, 114-115 Victoria Embankment, Durban

In 1929, H Live commissioned architect Ritchie McKinlay to design a building which, according to local tradition, would serve as a naval college. McKinlay is considered to have been one of the most important motivators of what has become known as the "Berea Style". It was declared a National Monument under old NMC legislation on 23 September 1988.

Subject to fairly recent refurbishment and external restoration, Quadrant House is a little jewel, on the Victoria Embankment. It is considered one of the epitomes of the so-called `Berea Style' which arose from local interest in Spanish Colonial Architecture as found, on the West Coast of North America. The Building is characterised by a prominent Central Bay Window, with a shell motif. Other key elements are a hierarchical play of hipped pavilion roofs and a series of Spanish frames to the windows and veranda openings. The original plan was quite chaotic: the ground floor was given over to shops while the Accommodation above was a maze of small Rooms, which were accessed from a central Staircase. One of the difficulties in planning the Building must have been the shape of the Site, a Quarter Circle or Quadrant from which the Building, derives its name. Fortunately the restoration has been sympathetic, keeping intact the major external characteristics of this clever little Building.