Nairobi Gallery

The Nairobi Gallery occupies the colonial-era building known as Old PC House on Kenyatta Avenue, at the corner of Uhuru Highway in the central business district of Nairobi, Kenya. The building was constructed in the 1910s as the office of the Provincial Commissioner, the senior British administrator, and later passed through various government uses before being restored and opened as a gallery in the 1990s under the National Museums of Kenya. It is a gazetted national monument. The gallery combines historical and contemporary art, with rotating exhibitions of Kenyan painters, sculptors and photographers and a permanent display from the Murumbi African Heritage Collection, assembled by Joseph Murumbi, Kenya's second vice president, and containing artefacts, textiles, and historical documents from across Africa. The curatorial approach is thematic rather than chronological, with temporary shows placed alongside the permanent holdings and the building's own history interpreted through panels. The architecture is stone colonial administrative style with a verandah and high-ceilinged rooms, and it has been well preserved following restoration work. The setting amid the towers of the CBD gives a sense of Nairobi's early town centre, and the gallery is a short walk from the Parliament Buildings, the National Archives and Kenyatta International Convention Centre. Visits are short and suit a stop within a wider city-centre walk. The gallery has also hosted talks and cultural events organised by the National Museums of Kenya, and the programme changes through the year, so what is on view varies between visits.