Old Dispensary

The Old Dispensary is a landmark building on Mizingani Road in Stone Town, built between 1887 and 1894. It was commissioned by Tharia Topan, a wealthy Ismaili Indian merchant, with its foundation stone laid in 1887 to mark Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee and the original intent of creating a charitable hospital for the poor. After Topan's death in 1891 his widow continued the project, construction paused in 1893 for budget reasons, and the building was finally completed in 1894 by a subsequent owner. From around 1900 its ground floor operated as a charitable dispensary financed by merchant Haji Nasser Nurmohamed — the source of its present name — while the upper floors were divided into apartments; it continued as a dispensary until 1964. The building is renowned as a showcase of multicultural Zanzibari architecture, combining a coral-rag and limestone core with Indian-influenced carved wooden balconies and stained glass, and European neoclassical stucco ornamentation, around an interior covered courtyard with carved connecting bridges. It was requisitioned by the government after the 1964 Zanzibar Revolution, then restored between 1990 and 1994 by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture — its first restoration project in Stone Town — and now houses the Stone Town Conservation Centre and a small museum, remaining a major tourist attraction.