The foundation stone was laid by Sir Grigg on 24 September 1929, and Kabete Boys Secondary opened in 1931.
The headmaster felt the name was too clumsy and changed it to Prince of Wales School. And though it’s today nicknamed ‘Patch,’ the old name of Wales was Cambria and hence old boys are members of ‘Old Cambrian Society.’ It changed to Nairobi School in 1965.
Did you know that a copy of the East African Standard newspaper and some coins were placed under the foundation stone? The coins and newspaper had the date and year in which the stone was laid in a ‘time capsule’ custom not only meant to connote the year of construction, but also to bring good luck.
This was a Masonic tradition dating back centuries when human sacrifice and later animal sacrifice became the norm. But Freemasons replaced blood with corn, oil and wine and later a book, newspaper or coin of the day as ‘protective ghosts,’ according to ‘The Masonic Trowel’.
Sir Baker was a Freemason who also designed State House Mombasa, the Nairobi Law Courts and Jamhuri High School. He continues: “…all the detached classrooms and houses were designed and built with connecting colonnades, in which respect I followed the excellent example set by President Jefferson in his beautiful University of Virginia.”
In her book, ‘White Man’s Country: The Making of Kenya,’ Elspeth Huxley noted that these schools were “solid, enduring buildings, walls of whitewashed stone and roofs of red close-socketed tiles, cool, open balconies and lofty rooms; they dominated the little up-country towns, still in the chrysalis stage of hotly shining corrugated iron, near which they were built.”
