Imenti House Aerial View Gets Kenyans Talking: "Hii Ni Kama Stadium"

• Imenti House is bounded by Moi Avenue, Tom Mboya Street, Kenyatta Avenue and Cabral Streets in Nairobi CBD
• The building that hosts hundreds of businesses ranging from boutiques, restaurants and beauty and cosmetics makes it to the list of key landmarks in Nairobi
• The building is owned by a cooperative society for coffee and dairy farmers from the Meru region

A grasp of a few landmarks is key in navigating the complex Kenya's capital city Nairobi for newcomers.

Nairobi Kenya landmarks

The city that has kept growing for over the past one decade is dreaded by individuals who are visiting the city for the first time or after a long time, because so much, in terms of infrastructural development keeps happening.

It, however, takes one an understanding of landmarks to learn their way across the city within a short span.

Kenya National Archives building which is sandwiched by Tom Mboya Street and Moi Avenue, Kencom Stage at the junction of City Hall Way and Moi Avenue, Afya Centre tower that is along Tom Mboya Street and the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC) along Harambee Avenue are among key landmarks in Nairobi.

It is commonly said in the city that anyone who masters the location of these landmarks can find their way across the Nairobi Central Business District easily.

Some people are easy with lanes, streets and avenues' names, while others are dependent on buildings and other landmarks in their navigation of the Nairobi CBD.

Imenti House in Nairobi CBD

Imenti House, that is bounded by Moi Avenue, Tom Mboya Street, Kenyatta Avenue and Cabral Street also makes it to the list of key landmarks in Nairobi.

The massive building that is near rectangle save for the curved edges, hosts hundreds of stalls and business spaces ranging from restaurants, clothes and shoes stalls and beauty points.

Outside the building there are matatu stages for different routes like Kasarani, making it a dependable landmark for a section of city dwellers.

Imenti House is literally a beehive of activities in Nairobi CBD.

Besides its popularity in terms of business activities and as a landmark, few people have seen the building's aerial view and a photo capturing this angle shared on social media got Kenyans talking.

Imenti House aerial view

The photo which shows that the building took a similar shape like a stadium captured from an aerial angle was shared by popular journalist Kennedy Murithi Bundi.

Kenyans online agreed that it really looked like a stadium from above and joked that it would need more research to find out which matches or games are played in this stadium in Nairobi CBD.

"Ama ni stadium ni game hatujui ni gani? (Maybe it is a stadium but we don't know which games are played there?" posed Marigu.

Who owns Imenti House?

Another netizen disclosed that the building was owned by Meru Central Coffee Cooperative Union, a claim that was proven by a report by The Standard, the latter which listed Imenti House among properties owned by the commercial entity.

"Kumbe all along Kenya had a sample of a stadium but we can't build a real one," Shem Richards opined.

Other netizens argued that the place where the house stands used to be a prison while others countered that the space was where courts were domiciled in the precolonial and early postcolonial days.

"Where Imenti House stands today, bounded by Kenyatta and Moi Avenues, and Tom Mboya and Cabral Streets, once stood the Courthouses of the Protectorate. It is outside that building, on a cold March 15th morning in 1907 that the following events took place," alleged Richard Marcovik Mutua.

What Imenti House replaced?

Allan Buluku however, differed with Mutua's observation and offered a different narration.

"Richard Marcovik Mutua Not true. The colonial prison was at UoN grounds, near the Norfolk. However, Imenti House sits on the ground that had the first Town Hall and Supreme Court," said Buluku.

Cornelius Ndisya inclined towards the argument that the space occupied by Imenti House used to be a prison and supported his position with his experience in the basement floor of Imenti House.

"Kwa mitandao wamesema (It's said online that) it used to be a colonial prison 'on the outskirts of Nairobi' - before Nairobi became a buzzling city. I am tempted to agree because when you visit the basement shops wacha tu. Hapo lazima ndio watu wa murder walikuwa wanawekwa (the basement looks like where murder suspects were being detained," Ndisya said.

Another netizen Jared Gekombe said the view captured in the photograph was achievable for a photographer in the higher floors of HH Towers along Moi Avenue and at the junction of Kenyatta Avenue.

The building trended some time back in 2020 over allegations that adult activities were taking place in the stalls, an allegation that was debunked as fake news.