This Thread is Dedicated to the Listed(Gazetted) Landmarks of Nairobi. Provide Images and as much information as possible in your postings i.e Name,Year Built,Previous Uses,Current Use etc

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McMillan Memorial Library was built in 1931. Formerly a private institution, it became a public institution after being taken over by Nairobi City Council in 1962. Its name has on occasion shifted from Nairobi City library to Sir Northrup McMillan Memorial Library, to its present McMillan Memorial Library. It is located next to the Jamia mosque in Nairobi's Central Business District. The library features a wide collection of books and other publications as well as being home to parliamentary archives. As of the year 2002, the library housed over 275,000 volumes including an Africana collection. Furniture by the famous writer Karen Blixen can also be spotted in the premises. Access to books and documents from the library are by membership.

Kenguy you are amazing.Splendid job and keep up.

Khoja mosque.

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It was built for Nairobi's Ismaili community. its located on Moi avenue (Government road in those days). Im not sure when this was built but looking at old pics, my guess would be in the 1940's-50's.

Kenguy you are amazing.Splendid job and keep up.

Thanks Mike.:)

Norfolk Hotel.

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Some say that Nairobi was practically built around this hotel. It was started in 1903 when Nairobi was starting out as a small outpost township. It has hosted various famous personalities from President Roosevelt to Queen Elizabeth. It was a meeting point for the settler community back then and has been witness to several historic moments in Kenya's history. It has since been remodelled several times but the most dramatic was following Kenya's first terrorist attack in the 80's on the hotel.

Nairobi City Hall

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By Jorge Lascar-flickr.

The old Nairobi Town hall was a wood and iron one-storey building at the junction of Goverment Road (now Moi Avenue) and Delamere Avenue (now Kenyatta Avenue) The Second Home of the Municipal Authority which it occupied from 1913 to 1923 was a wood and Iron building near Moi Avenue.

A new town hall was built and completed in 1934 at an estimated cost of £30,000. The new Town hall was opened in the same week as the Law Courts, opposite it, during the Silver Jubilee Celebrations in May 1935. After substancial growth of the city, it was decided that the council needed more spacious and permanent accomodation.

Construction of a new complex commenced in 1950 and was completed in 1957 when it was officially opened. Until the opening of the Kenyatta International Conference Center (KICC), City Hall provided all the necessary facilities for confrences in Nairobi. The clock tower, and impressive 165ft high landmark, was the tallest building in Nairobi in 1957. The need for further expansion continued to be felt both for office and accomodation and services to the residents. In 1981, the Nairobi City Council completed a further 13 storey City hall Annexe to meet these needs [nairobicity.org]

Nairobi National Museum.

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The Museum was initiated in 1910 by the then East Africa and Uganda Natural History Society [currently the East African Natural History Society (EANHS)]. The group consisted mainly of colonial settlers and naturalists who needed a place to keep and preserve their collections of various specimens. Its first site was at the present Nyayo House in the Nairobi city centre. The site soon became small and a larger building was put up in 1922 where the Nairobi Serena Hotel now stands.

In 1929, the colonial government set aside land at the Museum Hill and construction work started at the current site. It was officially opened in Sept. 22 1930 and named Coryndon Museum in honour of Sir Robert Coryndon, one time Governor of Kenya and a staunch supporter of Uganda Natural History Society. On the attainment of independence in 1963, it was re-named the National Museum of Kenya (NMK).

On October 15th 2005, previous Nairobi Museum closed its doors to the public for an extensive modernization and expansion project that is now complete. The outcome is impressive; the Nairobi Museum has been transformed into a magnificent piece of architecture that puts it in competition with other world class museums.

Is the yellowish hindu temple close to old kbs station gazetted?

Is the yellowish hindu temple close to old kbs station gazetted?

I doubt it.

State House.

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State House is the official residence of the President of Kenya. It was originally known as Government House. This building was built in 1907 in Nairobi to serve as the official residence of the Governor of British East Africa when Kenya was a British Colony. The governor would conduct his official functions at the old Provincial Commissioner’s office (now a national monument) next to Nyayo House and then retire to Government House for the day.

After independence, Government House was renamed State House. Although it remained the official residence of the Head of State, in practice it became an administrative or operational office occasionally providing accommodation to visiting State guests and receptions on National Days.

State House in Nairobi stands on a 3 square kilometre piece of land. It is a 10 minute drive from the city centre. Other than the Nairobi one, there are other State Houses and Lodges scattered around the country to provide accommodation to the Head of State whenever he is touring various parts of the country.

Standard Chartered Bank, Kenyatta Ave.


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Standard Chartered Bank opened its branches in Kenya in January 1911, with 2 branches; one at Treasury Square in Mombasa and the other on Kenyatta Avenue in Nairobi (the building in the pic). Today, 100 years later, the Bank has an excellent franchise, with a network of 28 branches strategically located across the country, 58 Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) and 1,040 employees. Standard Chartered Bank has remained a public quoted company on the Nairobi Stock Exchange since 1989.

Kenguy, you do a great job bro, thanks for your posts:cheers:

Kenguy, you do a great job bro, thanks for your posts:cheers:

You are welcome. :)

Kenya National Archives, Moi Ave.

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The Kenya National Archives was created in 1965 by an Act of the Kenyan Parliament. It is mandated with the stewardship of Kenya’s public records and national documentation services.

The land on which it stands was originally the Nairobi headquarters of the National Bank of India. The building in which it is housed, an enduring landmark of Nairobi, was constructed in 1931 by the National & Grindlays Bank. It was owned by Kenya Commercial Bank between 1970 and 1978 and thereafter acquired by the government of Kenya for the Kenya National Archives.

It houses the Joseph Murumbi Gallery on its ground floor which contains simply the largest collection of Africana from every corner of the African continent, from Mauritius to Ethiopia, Gambia to the Congo. There is a second gallery on the upper floor which provides a deep historical reflection of Kenya from the pre-colonial times (Circa 1890) to date.

Great job Kenguy!
The Milimani Commercial courts and the High Court building also deserve to be hereg

Its amazing how these building have stood the test of time,as compared to the shoddy flats being built in some areas in Nairobi which collapse before even completion.

Kipande House, Kenyatta Ave.

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Kipande House was built in 1913. It was originally a warehouse used by coolies right next to the Kenya-Uganda railway line which passed where Loita street is located today.

Designed by Gurdit Singh, the one-storey affair that still sports its ubiquitous quirky tower was Kenya’s tallest building until City Hall was opened in 1935, starring a 165ft tower clock.

Kipande House now houses the Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB). As is the case with all historical buildings on Kenyatta Avenue, it has maintained its timeless looks, ageing gracefully since KCB — which started in Zanzibar as the National Bank of India in 1895 — commissioned its architect Derek Fialt to restore it, which accounts for its hand-dressed masonry finish. Triad Architects worked the interiors in 2003.

As its name suggests, Kipande House was where Africans acquired their ID cards (kipande) during the colonial period.

The IDs were hang around the neck, like cowbells. So were the Indian rupee coins — then Kenya’s official currency — with holes at the centre so they could be threaded on a cord and suspended around the neck since Africans mostly wore shukas.

Great job Kenguy!
The Milimani Commercial courts and the High Court building also deserve to be hereg

I'll post them soon. I just like getting as much information about each individual building first. I can't think of a better way to learn about Nairobi's history. :)

Nairobi High Court, City Square.

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This building built in the 1930's was officially opened in 1935 together with the Nairobi Town Hall (city hall today) and is one of the buildings surrounding Nairobi's city square.

It was built as a court building for the European settlers. Due to the segregation policies in colonial Kenya, the Asians and Muslims had their own separate courts while the Africans had their own separate tribunals served by elders from each of the native ethnic groups in the colony.

In independent Kenya, the building housed the High court together with the Court of appeal which prior to the enactment of the new constitution was the highest office in the judiciary. Today the highest court in Kenya is the Supreme court which is situated in the Milimani law courts in the community/Upperhill section of Nairobi.

Old PC's Office, Kenyatta Ave.

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Located at the junction of Uhuru Highway and Kenyatta Avenue, Nairobi, this structure was built in 1913. Nairobi then was a supply depot and basic camp of tin and wooden dwellings for Indian coolies constructing the Kenya-Uganda railway, who called it “Mile 327”.

The settlers nicknamed the Old PC’s Office “Hatches, Matches, and Dispatches” as it was where records for births, marriages, and deaths were kept. Its colonial cobwebs were dusted off when it was spruced up in 2003, the brown coat of varnish giving it a respectable archaic look, a metaphor of its quaint past.

In January 2006, the Old PC’s Office was renamed the Nairobi Gallery that now hosts temporary public exhibitions. Plans are underway to renovate the building so as to become Kenya's national art gallery, slated to open its doors in 2013, just in time to mark 100 years of the buildings existence and 50 years of Kenya's independence.