Lecture Three History of Nairobi

ABU 2401
LECTURE 3
A BRIEF HISTORY OF NAIROBI: EVOLUTION OF
THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT
– 1899: Nairobi began as a stop-over
for Kenya-Uganda railway.
– 1901: railway headquarters

moved from Mombasa to Nairobi.
– Nairobi at first grew without town

planning principles – plot by plot
development as land was
subdivided and slowly covered with
buildings.
– In early 1900s town core barely

extended beyond short stretches of
a few roads, with dwelling groups
dispersed in surrounding landscape.
Nairobi early 1900s
Nairobi 1902
Norfolk Hotel
Nairobi Map 1906
– By 1906 the town had
distinct areas:
– Railway Centre,
– Indian Bazaar,
– European Business
and Administration
Centre,
– Railway Quarters,
– Dhobi (Washer-man)
Quarter,
– European residential
suburbs,
– Military barracks
outside the town.
– The area covered approx.

6 acres.
– Rules laid out in 1904 for
whole colony regarding
streets, roads,
construction of buildings,
etc.
– 1901-2 and 1904, Nairobi

experienced plagues.
– 1902: Indian Bazaar burnt

down; part of it in later years
also. Bazaar was damp,
unventilated, overcrowded,
poor sanitation. Plague
visited the town in 1911,
1912, and 1913.
Indian Bazaar c. 1910
1st National Bank of India: 1904
– Housing in Bazaar
predominantly single storeyed
buildings. Multi-purpose tin
sheds, no windows.
– Front: shops; back: living

quarters for traders, sub-
lessees and lodgers. Used as
dwellings, shops, wash-houses,
bakeries, and butcheries.
– Later, reconstruction of Bazaar

took place – challenges with
the Bazaar was a symptom of
lack of supervisory control
of land used.
– Of suburban districts,
most dense was
Parklands inhabited
by government civil
servants.
– Outside municipality,
beyond Dagoretti Rd
Kenya Armed Rifles
occupied quarters.
– Pattern was the result

of spontaneous
growth. Tobegin with,
there was no town plan
c.1913 town began to
ask for a plan.
1910/20s
Station Road 1913
1913
1913
Nrb Boundaries 1906-1963
– Before 1920 Nairobi defined no – These neighbourhoods had
“native locations” and erected amenities e.g. communal kitchens,
no African residential quarters. welfare clinics, libraries, dance
halls, tea rooms, and football
– Pumwani and Pangani were areas grounds.
for early housing for Africans. 1st – The ‘village green’, the social
African public housing scheme centre, a post office, a dairy, were
was Kariokor comprising incorporated into design, which
dormitory-type quarters. deviated from the gridiron
layout customary elsewhere in
– Other projects: Ziwani: a municipal Africa at the time.
housing experiment; Starehe: a
government scheme; and Kaloleni:
a joint venture of government and
municipality.
– After World War 1,
European settlers
gained more influence
in colonial
administration. The
European-dominated
municipality employed
town planning and zoning
of areas.
– Beginning in 1929 the

town became road-
conscious; more
tarmacking of roads.
– Municipal enterprise made
first steps when municipal
market was erected in 1920s.
– The Local Government

Commission of 1926
produced report on
extension of municipal
boundaries to include
suburban areas.
– By 1940, Nairobi had

characteristics with a
distinct commercial
centre, suburbs, and a
system of public services.
– Nairobi took more urban
appearance due to
construction of public
buildings in town center,
e.g. Law Courts, Railway
Headquarters, municipal
offices, City Market.
– Also due to large scale

rebuilding of the Indian
Bazaar and construction of
extensive tarmac road
system connecting the
suburbs to town center.
Nrb Municipal Area 1927 (adopted from Hirst 1994),
– Before 1948, several peri-urban estates
and villages were growing e.g. Karen,
Spring Valley Estate, Ruaraka and Kibra.
– During inter-war period, although still

done, building was not priority of
colonial government that sought to
conserve and direct resources to war
efforts
– The 1948 Master Plan conceived as a

key plan for the general, physical,
economic, and social development
of the city over the succeeding 25
years. For the most part, however, the
Plan remained unimplemented.
Law Courts of Kenya: 1955
KICC Plaza: on axis to EA Community HQ
– Influx to Nairobi occurred just before
independence in 1963. – Thus the city boundary was
extended to 266 sq miles, with
– Before independence Nairobi city 344,00 inhabitants. In 60 yrs
boundary that had been retained more Nairobi had grown from a town
or less since 1928 was extended. of 7 sq miles (1901) and 11,500
inhabitants (1906) to a
– The Regional Boundaries metropolis with 38 times its area
Commission of 1962 emphasized and almost 30 times its
inclusion, within the city boundary of population.
adequate land for future residential
and commercial development,
peri-urban dormitory areas and of
strategic assets, without
encroaching good agricultural
land located to the north of the city.
1960
Part of Nairobi showing CBD, 1962. City of Nairobi Map & Guide. Map by Survey of Kenya.
Government Rd/Moi Ave
– By 1960s much of present – The map of 1970 indicates
urban structure had been intensification of land use
established with the especially in and around the
industrial areas to the centre, the outward
south of the core and extension of the urban
building of publicly funded structure, particularly
residential areas on the level along the main
land to its east. thoroughfares, and the
establishment of the new
– During the first two decades dwelling areas to the east of
following independence,(1964 the city centre.
-1984) Nairobi emerged as a
modern metropolis
modeled on western
principles of planning.
1970
– The 1973 Metropolitan Growth Strategy
was designed to create general frame within
which local plans could be executed.
– Strategy emphasized planning of the city’s road

network. By 1973 major alterations had
occurred in road network- first, construction
of large roundabout with parking area in the
middle (approx. 200m diameter) on the
Nairobi River.The 2nd alteration was the
redirection of northbound traffic on
Government Road.
– The established pattern of functional zoning

was largely continued in the Strategy.
1973
– In the 1970s high-rise office
buildings constructed in older
commercial centre. Some
buildings sought to reflect
African forms in design.
– Another commercial
concentration developed NW
of the city centre, on the
western side of Koinange
Street. With few exceptions,
new administrative and
commercial buildings in the
city centre conformed to the
modernist ‘International Style’
of buildings.
– By 1983, primacy of the city
centre so evident in the early 1960s,
replaced by sub-centres in the
residential areas, with the largest
at Westlands attracting commercial
services, companies and hotels.
– Residential areas were spreading

further into the surroundings, also
outside the city boundary.
– As of 2009, Nairobi had grown to an

area of over 650 sq.km (3.5m pop.)
Kenya’s 2010 Constitution increased
the city boundaries to create Nairobi
City County.
A HISTORY OF NAIROBI (Materials & Architectural Styles)
Building Materials: – Clay-stone used for important

– European settlers buildings. Use replaced by
predominantly used locally concrete blocks and ferro-
available materials in concrete construction due to
construction. Blue granite uneconomic to quarry, lower
stone was easily available, strength, dull colour, difficult
durable and accessible. extraction in large blocks.
– Clay-stone however remained

– Most historic buildings still popular in residential
retain these rustic facades but a construction.
few have suffered haphazard
application of paint.
Building Materials:
– 1940s, sand produced in Athi River, – Imported Mangalore roofing
Konza, Ulu, and Kajiado. No lime tiles (originating in Mangalore,
produced in Nairobi - quarried India, of hard, laterite red clay).
near Kajiado, Mombasa, and Homa
Bay. Ballast was in plentiful supply – As of late 1940s, no Portland
as on the same period. cement was made from raw
materials of Kenya, though some
– Brickwork and roofing tiles - was locally manufactured from
lower quantities, dependent on rain imported clinker.
and experiencing some difficulties
obtaining sufficient labour and fuel.
– Concrete roofing tiles were also

being manufactured in Nairobi.
Foreign Building Styles &
Attributes:
1) Renaissance Architecture:
Attributes:
2) Classical Revival Architecture:
Attributes:
Classical Revival Architecture:
Attributes:
3) English Gothic:
Attributes:
4) English Tudor Style
Attributes:
English Tudor Style
Attributes:
5) Art Deco
Attributes:
6) Islamic Influences
Attributes:
Islamic Influences
Attributes:
7) Indian
Attributes:
Indian
Attributes:
Indian
Attributes:

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ABU 2401

– 1901: railway headquarters

– Nairobi at first grew without town

– In early 1900s town core barely

– The area covered approx.

– 1901-2 and 1904, Nairobi

– 1902: Indian Bazaar burnt

– Front: shops; back: living

– Later, reconstruction of Bazaar

– Pattern was the result

– Beginning in 1929 the

– The Local Government

– By 1940, Nairobi had

– Also due to large scale

– During inter-war period, although still

– The 1948 Master Plan conceived as a

– Strategy emphasized planning of the city’s road

– The established pattern of functional zoning

– Residential areas were spreading

– As of 2009, Nairobi had grown to an

Building Materials: – Clay-stone used for important

– Clay-stone however remained

– Concrete roofing tiles were also

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