Old PC House / Nairobi Gallery

Old PC House, now home to the Nairobi Gallery, stands on Kenyatta Avenue at the corner of Uhuru Highway in central Nairobi, Kenya. The two-storey stone building dates from the early years of the colonial town, constructed in the 1910s as the office and base of the Provincial Commissioner, the senior British administrator for the area. That role gave the building its name, and it remained part of the colonial and later Kenyan government machinery for decades. It has been gazetted as a protected national monument. The building has colonial-era stonework, a verandah, and an interior of high-ceilinged rooms with timber floors. It was restored and opened to the public in the 1990s as the Nairobi Gallery, operated by the National Museums of Kenya, and part of the interior holds the Murumbi African Heritage Collection of art and artefacts assembled by Joseph Murumbi, Kenya's second vice president. The curation is mixed: rotating exhibitions of contemporary Kenyan artists and a permanent display of historical objects, with the building itself part of the story. The preservation state is good for a heritage building of its age, aided by the conservation work done before the gallery opened. Visitors can see how colonial administrative architecture looked in Nairobi, in contrast with the glass towers now surrounding it in the central business district. The location is within walking distance of Kenyatta International Convention Centre, the Parliament Buildings and the National Archives, making it easy to combine with other heritage sights in the city centre.