ANGLICAN ECCLESIASTICAL ARCHITECTURE IN COLONIAL CITIES IN KENYA,1844-1963
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.66055/77zcp348Keywords:
Colonial, Cathedral, Gothic, Identity, Nationalism, Power, SymbolAbstract
There is already rich scholarship that explores the
diverse ways in which colonial states and
architects employed the classical style across the
British Empire, paying careful attention to local
and imperial influences upon building design.
Ecclesiastical architecture in Kenya is a vital
source through which to understand the particular
nature of colonial entanglement in the region. As
colonial architecture and urbanism played pivotal
roles in shaping the spatial and social structures
of African cities during the nineteenth and
twentieth centuries. In the first earlier twentieth
century, missionary activities in was at its zenith
at the East African Coast and the thus Anglican
ecclesiastical architecture began to appear in the
mainland dominated and inspired mainly by Early
English Gothic architecture. The Anglican Church
of Kenya started mission stations in urban areas
such as Nairobi, Nakuru, Kisumu and Eldoret in
English-like homes, cathedrals and parish offices.
The study reveals how the architectural and
technological transfers from the West continued
synchronously with evangelism to create the
prescribed image of the Anglican Church in
Kenya. In the context of the international
relations, these discourses played a significant
role in consolidating British imperial power, as
happened elsewhere in the British Empire. We
argue that certain architectural elements have
long been recognized internationally as symbolic
of state power.
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