AMMAZULU AFRICAN PALACE – A MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR
- O&A Team
- March 28, 2025
- Features
- Ammazulu African Palace, Boswell Wilkie Circus, Carl Roberts, graffiti in KZN, Jane du Rand, Jean Powell, Kevin McGarry, Kloof Gorge, Krantzkloof Nature Reserve, KwaZulu-Natal guesthouses, Mike and Margaret Ruxton, Peter Amm, St Mary’s Mission, Zulu culture
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The Ammazulu African Palace in Kloof opened as a five-star guesthouse 15 years ago. Out & About went on their magical mystery tour
WORDS: SHIRLEY LE GUERN
Exactly what is the Ammazulu African Palace? A five-star guest house perched on the edge of Kloof Gorge, overlooking the Krantzkloof Nature Reserve? An artist’s lifelong collection of artefacts, masterpieces and memorabilia? A repository of weird and wonderful paraphernalia that amazes? A complete cacophony of colour, texture and form that sparks nothing short of pure sensory overload?
Probably all of the above – but it is the story of one man’s vision that links this vast and eclectic collection. Without the slightest exaggeration, a tour of this mystifying establishment is akin to discovering a little Indiana Jones hidden away in conservative suburban Kloof.
A decision to visit this world of wonders in the midst of massive flooding in KZN certainly catapulted us out of a grey world.
On arrival, we were met with everything from a massive metallic dragon to twin stone towers that are reminiscent of the Zimbabwe ruins. Look a little closer and you discover patterned vertical rock gardens topped by two of the most rare and endangered cycads in the world.
In fact, it is only once you navigate this space with its magnificent mix of everything from kitsch to fine art and get a peek into the mind that conceived it that you discover that the experience is much like becoming part of a novel or stepping on to a movie set … starting with magnificent wooden doors that were once the entrance to the grand Old Mutual building in the Durban CBD.
This fantastic entrance provides a theme for the entire adventure – everything has a story and almost every one is elevated by input from one of the country’s foremost artists. In this instance, the grand doors had been saved from the wrecker’s yard by founder Peter Amm’s father.
Tour guide Alta du Plooy explains: “I asked him who gave him the blessed talent of collecting and hoarding. He smiled. His Dad had got the doors many years ago, placed them in the garden hoping that he’d use them. Unfortunately, he never did – but Peter ultimately used them in the best possible place.”
The doors are enhanced by stained glass panels created by family friend and artist Jean Powell.
“She did mental work, glass etching, stain glass and upcycling of anything you could think of. What a special lady. Keep in mind that she was in her seventies when she was up and down scaffolding to put all of that together for us. For me, that is very, very special,” Alta explains.
MEETING PETER AMM
On a somewhat macabre note, the crux of the tour is meeting the ghost of the palace. Peter Amm passed away a few years ago.
The name of the palace reflects the Zulu nation whose culture is prevalent throughout this space but with an extra ‘m’ thrown in as a clever tribute to its creator whose passion and energy continues to resonate and bear testament to his much repeated promise to create something “completely, utterly and unforgettably different”.
Through Alta’s eyes, you meet this truly remarkable character who apparently studied for 16 years, qualifying as an architect, a landscaper, an artist, a ballet dancer and an actor.
Amm’s money came from an inheritance and he never had to work a day in his life.
He discovered the mountainous property from which the Ammazulu African Palace emerged 60 years ago.
“Back up?? then, there were no trees or shrubs. It was pure grassland. I was here. When Mister Amm saw this piece of land, he realized that when he retired one day, he possibly would not be able to afford something like this. So he approached whoever was selling it and got it for 70 pounds. But he didn’t know what to do with it, so he left it for many, many, many moons.”
In early 2000, Peter Amm woke up one morning saying that he had had an amazing dream and now had a vision and knew exactly what he wanted to build. He connected with friend and fellow architect Kevin McGarry to put this
vision on paper – a difficult task given the rocky terrain on what was a kidney shaped plot of land.On rethinking the idea of building a conventional linear structure, the two decided to let the landscape dictate and meshed and drained the site in readiness for planning permission.
Even that process took another two years, made a little more complicated by the fact that Peter Amm was already notorious for other antics in this community.
“During the late eighties, he had what was known as a Garden of Adam which was a nudist colony. You can imagine that the local community did not like that. So, very soon after it opened, they had it shut. When they heard that the person planning to build on this property was the same person, they really gave him a hard time,” Alta recounts.
Construction started in 2004 and ended in 2009. “But please keep in mind that the vision for this property was to create something of a Playboy Mansion, never an establishment like we have now. This was just going to be a weekend getaway for friends,” she says.
It was also going to be the place that Peter Amm could stow a lifelong collection of treasures amassed not only from Africa but also during visits to Bali, India and beyond.
In the garden of his Kloof home, Merrywinkle, which was a former cattle farm, there was a shed stocked with a stunning collection of Zulu arts as well as teak windows and doors which were incorporated into the building itself.
AN EXTRAVAGANT COLLECTION OF ART
Part of Peter Amm’s vision was to include as many art forms as he could, starting with the 20 mosaic pillars that unapologetically dominate. Created by Jane du Rand, one of South Africa’s most famous mosaic artists (who rose to fame after completing a $10-million mural in Mexico and went on to do other local projects including the mosaic artworks in the food court at the Sibaya Casino), they make up another intriguing chapter of this story.
Purely decorative, the pillars were made in her back garden using a cement and polystyrene compound and not only include conventional glass tiles but also more unconventional fillers such as tennis balls, teacups, mugs, sauces, teaspoons, electric conductors, insulators, side plates, glass plates and marble mirrors.
According to Alta, this echoed Peter Amm’s belief that all items have a presence and a beautify of their own: “There are 20 in total. Each was designed with the idea that there would be perfect symmetry. That was the way that Peter thought and something that emerged in all the homes that he designed. What you see on one side, you’ll always see on the other. They might not be identical, but the relationship will be there.”
But back to the real world. Each pillar had to be bubble wrapped and placed on the back of a truck by crane and then brought into the palace for placement within a structure that already had its roof in place.
Up until when the palace was built, graffiti was illegal in South Africa. Ahead of his time and a precursor to when so-called street art would become an accepted part of both urban culture and architectural projects, Amm brought in a Johannesburg artist to interpret the pillars on the blank canvases that were the walls between them.
Another artwork-with-a-story is the so-called Chicken outside one of the side doors.
Alta explains that one of the first problems that the palace had was poor water pressure. The solution was to build a pump house comprising large JoJo tanks and two big pressure pumps which Peter Amm described as a monstrosity.
Another artist friend was invited to create a bird shaped artwork to cover it, using discarded everyday items such as an old shopping trolley as a head complete with eyes made from fully functional red railway signal lights.
That, too, raised the ire of the neighbours, Alta remembers: “Shortly after it was up, Peter started getting phone calls from people living nearby saying that he had destroyed their view. Several months later, he was sued. Long story short, his final statement to the judge at the time was: ’Your honour, this is actually a guinea fowl which is the national bird for this area.’ The judge replied that if that was the case, he could keep his chicken!”
Back inside the building, the walkways leading to the 10 suites as well as the lounge and dining areas are repositories of artworks that include everything from paintings to sculptures and even Zulu maidens’ bridal headdresses and intricately beaded waistcoats that were love letters to prospective husbands.
The lounge area also displays many curiosities and artworks, including the work of master craftsman and sculptor, Carl Roberts, who is known for creating pieces out of driftwood. Magnificent carvings from Bali and various other pieces keep this company in an elevated mezzanine from which you exit via an ornate spiral staircase salvaged from the old Greenacres building in the Durban city centre.
The staircase looks straight out to yet another quirky artwork – this time what started out as a wooden rowing boat that is suspended on chains from the ceiling.
Alta recounts this story, too: “Neither the artist nor Peter was here the day that the construction gents had to crane this up and hang it where you see it. Unfortunately, when they got back, they realised that it was upside down. They decided to leave it and, to this day, it remains looking much like an American Indian headdress and providing a very different view of this African palace,” she says.
THE FINE ART OF MAKING HISTORY
Probably about 80% of this establishment has been made from recycled or upcycled materials. Many are artefacts rescued from some of Durban’s grand old buildings of yesteryear.
For example, beautiful lights from some of the city’s very first “bioscopes” provide an art deco glow to the entrances to this huge space.
Other lighting is just as creative – rakes decorated with a myriad of items are sconces along the walls and beautiful chandeliers are dotted through the middle of the palace.
It would be unfair to include every breathtaking creation or mindboggling legend – that’s what the tour or a weekend stay is intended to do.
“These were, in fact, the metal rebars that kept the building together. As the building matures, they are removed. Peter didn’t throw anything away and used pretty much anything and everything he possibly could.
These rebars were taken home where he transformed them into the chandeliers, adding his childhood toys. If you look closely, you’ll see skittles, tops, hair bands and more. I like to call this Peter’s memory lane. I can imagine him walking through there, remembering his dad, looking up, thinking of his childhood – and then, as the space opens up, literally realizing he had a dream and he was able to make it a reality,” she shares.
Suffice it to say, you’ll encounter everything from the sealed off Peeping Museum which is its own version of a little shop of horrors complete with 50 years’ worth of weird and wonderful gadgets and contraptions, windows from the St Mary’s Mission dating back to 1710 that were restored by artist couple Mike and Margaret Ruxton, ornate elephant doors and benches collected during Peter Amm’s travels and even old rickshaws brought back from India and a circular platform from Durban’s Boswell Wilkie circus.
“Although Peter Amm wasn’t religious, he really did try to honour as many of the different customs and cultures that he had within this building,” Alta admits.
Almost by default, he managed to imagine and bring to life a massive tapestry of cultures and experiences that are echoed in KwaZulu-Natal to this day.
