Norfolk Hotel

Nairobi, Kenya

First the town, then later the modern city of Nairobi literally grew around the Norfolk, East Africa’s first luxury hotel. In the early 1900s, the hotel’s “glorious sophistication” and gourmet cuisine attracted Africa’s most adventurous and upscale clientele, from Teddy Roosevelt to a parade of European nobility. The hotel was rebuilt, modernized, and expanded for its centennial in 2004 and while not much of the original remains, the Norfolk is still an oasis of comfort in the heart of the city. The Lord Delamere Terrace has been a favorite Nairobi meeting place since 1904.