The Stanley
has had 3 owners and been renovated 3 times since its
inception way back when Nairobi was little more than a Railway
outpost sporting a few wood and tin buildings.
OWNERS
Mayence
Bent was the original owner of what was then known as
Stanley Hotel, which she started on Victoria Street (later
Tom Mboya street) in1902. In 1905,
she moved the hotel to larger premises on Government road
(later Moi Avenue). In 1909, Mayence and her new husband,
Fred Tate whom she married a few years after her separation
from her first husband, bought two corner sites located on
Sixth Avenue and by 1913, the Tate's New Stanley opened on
the hotel's present location.
The Block
Family bought the hotel from Mayence Tate in 1947
although she still maintained financial interest. Her
husband Fred had passed away in 1937,
and much of Mayence's will to continue involving herself
with the hotel's affairs and management was diminished with
his death.
The Sarova
Group bought it from Abraham Block and family in 1978.
RENOVATIONS
A major
reconstruction and overall beautifying of the hotel took
place in 1932 under the
watchful eye of Fred and Mayence Tate.
In 1958
most of the hotel structure was demolished and rebuilt in
line with Jack and 'Tubby'-
Abraham Block's two sons - plans for massive improvements
for the hotel.
After
operating the hotel under the name The New Stanley for about
20 years, The Sarova Group undertook a massive
rehabilitation worth about US$ 20
million in 1998/99. The management had resolved
that the hotel would revert to its original name, The
Stanley, and so it stands today.
The Stanley has
played host to some of the world's most renowned authors in its
time: Elspeth Huxley, author of 'The Flame
Trees of Thika', 'The Mottled Lizard', 'Red Strangers'
and others,
Col. J H
Patterson
who wrote the true story 'The Man-eaters
of Tsavo' later the basis of the movie 'The Ghost and The
Darkness',
Ernest
Hemingway,
writer of 'The Green Hills of Africa',
'The Short Happy life of Francis Macomber'
and 'The Snows of Kilimanjaro'.
Hemingway (after sport-hunting in the Kilimanjaro region)
recuperated from illness in the hotel towards the end of the
year 1933/34. It was in his hotel bedroom during that time that
he thought up the themes of some of his most famous short
stories and books. He returned to the hotel again in 1953.
All these
writers went on to mention The Stanley in their books
 
The hotel was
the base for several films and their casts;
The United
Artists' production of 'The
Macomber Affair', the film of Ernest
Hemingway's intriguing hunting story 'The
Short Happy life of Francis Macomber', starring Gregory
Peck, Robert Preston, Joan Bennett and others.
MGM's hilarious 'Mogambo'
starring Clark Gable, Donald Sinden, Ava
Gardner and Grace Kelly (later Princess
Gracia Patricia of Monaco)
Stewart Granger was another face
seen around The Stanley during the making of 'King
Solomon's Mines'
The Stanley
made the first ever order of beer from
Kenya Breweries Ltd. Under the management of
Mr. Waterman, The Stanley in 1922 took delivery of the
first ever order undertaken by Kenya Breweries Ltd -10 cases of
beer. The Hurst Brothers set up
Kenya Breweries in 1922.
The Stanley's
Exchange Bar was the first home
of the Nairobi Stock Exchange.
The
original bar in The Stanley, called Long Bar was
acknowledged by the English Sunday
Times as one of the 'Famous Long Bars of The World'.
It was replaced later by the Safari Bar
on the first floor and later still by the Exchange
Bar. This last was the birthplace of Nairobi's first and
only Stock Exchange where previously four businessmen had sat,
since 1954, transacting their
business of stocks and shares.
Today The Stanley's Exchange Bar sports a 'Wall
of Fame', on which, in places of
honour, hang photographs of the chief executives of the
current top 20 companies on the Nairobi
Stock Exchange.
Guarding The
Stanley's entrance is the world's famous
messenger- an, whose message-board
has formed the centrepiece of the legendary Thorn Tree Café
since 1959.
Although the
café is now on its third acacia and the messages now flowing
from the trees own web-site, the
atmosphere of Africa's best known meeting place is still as warm
and welcoming as it was in those early days.
Thorn Tree is
an open-air café, famous meeting point of East Africa since the
time of the Safari aficionado Ernest
Hemmingway. It was the thorn tree itself, of the Acacia
Xanphopholoea variety, that gave the café its present
name. Like a trusted messenger, the tree
became the bearer of messages that were stuck on its yellowish
trunk to be plucked off by travelers visiting the hotel.
The original tree was felled in 1961
and a replacement was planted. By 1997, the tree showed the
symptoms of maturity when its’ branches started drooping and
natural lean became more exaggerated. A farwell party was held
to bid the old tree farwell and to welcome its replacement, a
young acacia of the same variety. Buried beneath the four meter
high tree is a time capsule bearing an inscription specifying
that it will be opened in the year 2038 when the tree will have
reached maturity. The capsule contains a selection of artifacts
depicting the present state of the world. It now meets with this
centuries requirements and has a cyber café and is open from
9.00am-11.00pm
During the
total refurbishment of The Stanley in 1999, Sarova also
commemorated famous names from the hotel's history
The Suites
The Windsor -
this was previously the Penthouse Suite
on the eighth floor. It was named The
Windsor as a reminder of the attendance at the ball in
the hotel in 1928 of the Prince of Wales,
(later King Edward VIII) and the Duke of Gloucester.
THE
STATE SUITES
On the 4th
Floor
The Stanley/The
Presidential Suite
- this is named for the famous explorer Henry
Morton Stanley, after whom the hotel itself must have
been named, which has played host to President
Sam Nujoma.
The Karen
Blixen -
During Karen Blixen's years in
Kenya (1914-1931) which inspired
some of her writings like 'Out of Africa'
and 'Shadows on the Grass', she frequently lunched at the New
Stanley.
The Lamu Suite
- named for the Swahili/Arabic Island,
this suite's décor is reminiscent of the island's romantic
ambience.
On the 2nd
Floor
The Connaught
Suite -
commemorates the first visit of a Royal
Family to Kenya in 1906, The Duke and Duchess of Connaught
and their daughter Pamela.
THE
CONFERENCE ROOMS
The first floor
Author's Suite is a conference room, which can be divided
into three soundproof sections.
These are named
The Huxley for Elspeth Huxley, The Patterson
for Col. J H Patterson and The Hemingway
for Ernest Hemingway.
The
Baden-Powell
Named for the world's First Chief Scout, Lord
Baden-Powell, who spent his last years in Kenya and is
buried at Nyeri in the shadow of Mount Kenya.
The Batian
and Lenana Named for two of Mount
Kenya's three major peaks (which were named for legendary
Maasai chiefs)
The Markham
Commemorates Beryl Markham's name.
Most of her life was spent in Kenya was as a very successful
trainer of horses and as an author. She was the author of the
book 'West with the Night'.
Baker
Named after Samuel Baker, the
intrepid explorer. In 1861, with
his wife Florence, he set out on his four-year search for the
source of the River Nile. He was the first white man, and she
the first white woman, to sight the Murchison Fall s and Lake
Albert (Lake Mobutu Sese Seko) and to establish that the Nile
flowed through the lake on its way to the Mediterranean Sea. The
Pool Deck is on The Stanley's Fifth floor, but the genius
architecture of the hotel puts the restaurant on the rooftop at
the same time.
The Ballroom
The Churchill ballroom is located
on the first floor of The Stanley and is named for Great
Britain's most famous politician and Prime Minister who, as
Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies, visited Kenya in 1907.
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In-room safe
An
open-air pavement brasserie/bistro-style café with & an
excellent patisserie range. The Historic cafe gaurds The
Stanley's entrance and has the world's
famous Messenger- an acacia xanthophidea, whose
message-board has formed the centrepiece of the legendary
Thorn Tree Café since 1959.
Pump up at the Pizza
Pit stop! Fill up with authentic Italian pizzas made
to order as you watch and baked in our genuine Italian clay
oven. Bite into a Nyama, Greek, and Napolitana pizzas while they
are piping hot. Takeaway also available.
Zen
is our elegant fine-dining restaurant specializing in award
winning international cuisine served in a spiritually uplifting
decor and ambience.
Currently the
hotel has introduced a “ Wall of Fame” in the Exchange Bar.
This is a collection of photographs depicting Chairmen of the
top twenty companies Nairobi Stock Exchange. This ensures The
Stanley keeps a foothold on Nairobi’s business clientele.
