As you drive into town from Ngara, one building stands as a landmark of where the CBD starts and ends. The area is a popular matatu stage; named derived from the old building that has stood for decades uninterrupted.
Khoja.
The colossal, three storey, historic stone structure is a house of faith in Nairobi. Furthermore, it is a sentinel of the once swampy area’s transition into a bustling capital.
How It Came To Be
Khoja Mosque dates back to the end of the First World War. The area was occupied with a few tin shacks that served as The Lunatic Express’s stopping points. The area had great potential. But the vision of what Nairobi could become was first seen through the eyes of Alibhai Mulla Jeevanjee.
A former door to door peddler in India and later Australia before arriving Mombasa and later settling in Nairobi, Jeevanjee established himself as the ideal contractor for the railway construction. By 1899 Jeevanjee was one of the colony’s wealthiest men and owned 70 percent of Nairobi by the following year. Jeevanjee sold sections of land and was further contracted by the colonial government to build English-style buildings that would serve as government offices.
One of the ‘plots’ Jeevanjee sold was purchased by railway workers who had decided to settle in Nairobi once the construction was completed. The Ismaili community were strong in their faith and intended to cement their presence in a new home by starting businesses and continuing in their faith. Members proposed to build a mosque and tasked Virjee Nanji Khambaita to design a mosque.
Building The Mosque
Construction commenced in January of 1920, officiated by Nairobi Governor, Sir. Charles C. Bowring. Two years later, the mosque was complete and given the name Darkhana Jamatkhana (Nairobi Town Jamatkhana). Darkhana to mean ‘house of congregation’.
One of the positives that the mosque contributed to, was that it encouraged and stimulated the setting up and growth of businesses in its vicinity. One popular street, Bazaar Street (Biashara Street) owes its bustling nature to the Jamatkhana.
90 years later, and the mosque – Darkhana Jamatkhana, or Khoja, still stands in its English style design at the corner of Moi Avenue and beginning of River Road. The building is still a place of worship though with minimal interior adjustments specially placed to block out the traffic and noise from the exterior of the building.
When did you first see this magnificent building?