Colonial buildings, including the parks, demonstrated “power and hegemony” for the ruling class. But for Africans, they evoked feelings of “oppression, violence and authority,” as Prof Maurice Amutabi tells us in Buildings as Symbols and Metaphors of Colonial Hegemony: Interrogating Colonial Buildings and Architecture in Kenya’s Urban Spaces published in 2012.
In his study, Amutabi highlights that government buildings such as the Nairobi Government House (now the Nairobi State House) “were supposed to radiate the strength and power of empire, helping institute the ideas of law, order and government,” hence its location on Nairobi Hill, from where it gave “vistas across the city below.”
In social circles, the location and proximity of All Saints Cathedral (for white Anglicans), Holy Family Basilica (for the white Catholics) and St Andrew’s Church (for white Presbyterians) around the Uhuru and Central Parks, was not by accident. It was by design. These fall in what was considered a privileged area where Africans were not allowed to access, thanks to the kipande decree. In the colonial era, these churches were a preserve for the whites who, “after a church service would freely stroll to the park for Sunday afternoon picnics away from the gaze of Africans.”
This explains the presence of other churches around the parks, including St Paul’s, Church of Latter Day Saints, the Lutheran Church and the Central SDA Church up Valley Road.
