Today, the Riviera on Vaal Hotel stands majestic and proud, fully restored and worthy of its hard fought 5 star status. This beautiful site has seen much development and change over the years.
The site where the Riviera Hotel has stood since 1929 was a popular venue for watersport and relaxation throughout the 1920’s and 30’s, with a “kiosk” (actually a majestic single storey house featuring a wide staircase leading onto a deep, cool “stoep”) doing brisk trade from the early 20’s with the fun seekers who enjoyed boating, waterpolo, swimming and various other activities in this idyllic spot. Dressing rooms for bathers were also situated here and huts built alongside where the present day “Riviera Villas” are situated, gave shelter to overnight visitors.
In the late 20’s an American by the name of Mr. Schlesinger, who had made his money in cinemas and movies (He made 43 of them between 1916 and 1922), visited the site and proclaimed it one of the most beautiful he had ever seen. He proceeded to build the “ultra modern” Riviera hotel which featured a bathroom for every room, a luxury unheard of at the time! He also revamped the Carlton Hotel in Johannesburg and built the gracious art deco Polona Hotel in Lourenco Marques and the elegant Edward Hotel in Durban.
The Riviera Hotel, like so many of Schlesinger’s buildings, was built using imported Canadian materials and incorporating the latest modern American ideas and artifacts. The quality of the original construction was of the highest order. The unique feature was spectacular river views from every room, something that has survived to this day. The major drawcard in the initial years for people living on the “reef”, was the perfect expanse of water ideal for any type of watersport, the only one of it’s kind anywhere near Johannesburg.
The official opening was only on Saturday, 29th August 1936, remarkably, the same day as the Vereeniging to Durban air race was held and Vereeniging’s Aerodrome was opened.
The hotel was a popular leisure destination in the years before and after the Second World War. From the 1960’s, the hotel’s popularity declined. A “highlight” of a rather dubious nature was the disasterous floods of early 1975, when most of the low-lying areas of Vereeniging were completely submerged, including most of the hotel grounds and the entire adjacent golf course.
