Tropical Display House

Durban Botanic Gardens were established in 1849 by the Natal Agricultural and Horticultural Society, first on the south bank of the Umgeni River and, from 1851, on the lower slopes of the Berea forest. Beginning as an agricultural trial station for crops such as tea, coffee and sugar cane, the garden describes itself as Africa's oldest surviving botanic garden. John Medley Wood, curator from 1881 to 1913, founded the KwaZulu-Natal Herbarium there, and the Jubilee Conservatory went up in 1898.

The orchid collection owes much to Ernest Thorp, curator until 1975 (from 1936 or 1950, according to the garden). The house that held it was named after him in 1962. The 2022 floods caused it irreparable structural damage, and it had to close for good.

In response to public demand, the Durban Botanic Gardens Trust revamped an existing building, previously known as the Biodiversity House, in 2025 and renamed it the Tropical Display House. Funded by the Trust and carried out with eThekwini Municipality, the project was unveiled to the public in October 2025.

The Tropical Display House is not a new building but a conversion of a glasshouse already standing in the garden, the former Biodiversity House. Its purpose also differs from that of the old Ernest Thorp Orchid House: where that building was given over entirely to orchids, the new house mixes them with other tropical plants. The orchids themselves are grown in shade houses and brought into the display house for showing.

The orchid collection is one of the few held by a municipal botanic garden in South Africa. It combines indigenous species, grown for conservation, with exotic species chosen for visual impact, across more than 75 natural and man-made genera. Some of the plants came from the old orchid house.

In the Tropical Display House the orchids share space with ferns, anthuriums and bromeliads. The collection is looked after by the Special Collections Horticulturist, Muhammad Adamjee, whose post is funded by the Trust, and more plants are to be added over the course of the year.

The house is part of a 15-hectare garden laid out with paved walkways. A visit extends naturally to the cycad collection, including specimens of Encephalartos woodii, a species extinct in the wild, placed at the four corners of a flight of steps near Edith Benson Road; to Palm Avenue; to the Sunken Garden, laid out in 1934; to the spring-fed lake, popular with birdwatchers; and to heritage trees such as an 1885 jacaranda and an 1880 lychee. Guided group tours can be booked through the education office.