Old Dispensary

A grand four-storey building of decorative balconies, now the Stone Town Cultural Centre.

Laid in 1887 and completed in 1894, it was built by Tharia Thopen — one of Zanzibar’s richest men — to commemorate the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria. It served as a dispensary in colonial times, fell into disrepair in the 1970s and 1980s, and is one of the town’s great restoration successes, funded by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture.