Nairobi’s history through pictures

If there is any place that is so enjoined with the history of Nairobi, it has to be the Sarova Stanley Hotel. Walk with me down memory lane to 1902 in Nairobi.

There is no tarmac road but there is a railway line that is opening up British East Africa to the outside world. Along the line, an enterprising couple, Mr and Mrs Tate, watching traffic from their little tin shack sees potential for business and open what becomes Nairobi’s first “modern” hotel, that still stands today — The Stanley . This hotel in the heart of Nairobi has seen it all.

“You cannot talk of Nairobi without Sarova Stanley,” says Faith Mbaya-Kibue, who works at the hotel, with pride.

Mr and Mrs Tate named the hotel The Stanley after the explorer Henry Morton Stanley. Profits accrued fast and by 1905, the couple had built a bigger building on the same spot, this time with additional upper rooms.

A fire destroyed it but again the couple rebuilt a bigger hotel with even more floors and rooms.

Standing at the corner of Kenyatta Avenue and Kimathi Street, the foyer boasts a Victorian clock that still shows the time and a superb collection of photographs that tells the story of the hotel and the city.

Faith points to a picture of the hotel with a tree in front of the building when there was no post office. That was around 1915. It is a fifth generation tree with a time capsule buried in its roots.  

“It was a meeting point and people began to leave notes pinned on the tree. That’s how the idea of a café with a tree was born,” she says referring to the Thorn Tree Café that faces Kimathi Street.

'SHE FORGOT HER HAT'

With the light streaming through the huge floor-to-ceiling glass windows, the spacious foyer allows one to browse through the pictures, relaxed. In February 1952, Princess Elizabeth, recently married, dropped in with her husband and the government of the day hosted a state banquet for her at The Stanley — a picture shows her seated at the banquet table.

With the light streaming through the huge floor-to-ceiling glass windows, the spacious foyer allows one to browse through the pictures, relaxed. In February 1952, Princess Elizabeth, recently married, dropped in with her husband and the government of the day hosted a state banquet for her at The Stanley — a picture shows her seated at the banquet table.

“Rumour has it that she forgot her hat,” says Agnes Cherotich, the hotel’s brand ambassador “And it’s believed that that is a bad omen. She lost her father two days later.”

The Stanley was the place to be. Ernest Hemingway may have penned some stories here and actress Ava Gardener enjoyed the luxury while shooting Mogambo in the 1950s.

Many more have walked in through the revolving door, the original one from the early days. 

Climbing up the wide wooden staircase which goes all the way up to the upper floors ( again an original from a long time ago when space was in plenty) the different floors show facets of a burgeoning town, for Nairobi only became a city in 1950.

Faith points to the palm-shaped fans on the ceiling of the famous Exchange Bar. It was the site of Nairobi’s first stock exchange from 1954 to 1991, and when Queen Elizabeth was here the fans were put up and worked by a person on a bicycle to keep her cool and comfortable. In 1922, the Long Bar (original name) took in the first-ever order from the newly formed Kenya Breweries, the makers of Tusker and Pilsner.

What is now Kenyatta Avenue was then known as Sixth Avenue. A street picture from the hotel shows an ox-cart, circa 1930, belonging to Hardinge Street Butchery.

A 1940s picture shows the British Legion fund on the street and a 1960s picture shows Delamere’s eight-foot high bronze statue (Sixth Avenue became Delamere Avenue) being lifted off the plinth, where it had rested for 17 years, soon after Kenya’s independence in 1963. Lord Delamere was the unofficial spokesman of the white settlers.

A pioneer, he experimented with wheat, maize, and livestock and is credited with setting up a base for Kenya’s agricultural economy and also putting up the country’s first flour mill.

I step out on the street through the famous revolving doors, past the life-size giraffe statue by the thorn tree, many years after Delamere’s statue was lifted off its plinth.

In a free and independent Kenya, a bronze statue of Dedan Kimathi, Kenya’s most famous freedom fighter, was erected on the street that bears his name — Kimathi.

At the heart of the city

Sarova Stanley is in the heart of the city — perfect for business travellers, tourists, city lovers, and just about everyone.

Its collection of restaurants serve fantastic food, while the murals of the Uganda Railway show some of  the most fascinating custom-made steam locomotives ever built for the African terrain.

While there, you can relax with a spa treatment or swim in the heated pool or even work out in the gym. If you want to explore the city, the Railway Museum, the National Archives, and the McMillan Memorial Library are just a walking distance from the hotel. For more information log on to www.sarovahotels.com