Iconic National Archives’ rise from hosting banks to global research centre

By the time the East African Currency Board was established in 1919, the National Bank of India had already entrenched itself as the leading bank in Kenya, with several branches to its credit. The East African Protectorate was declared a colony in 1920 and soon thereafter the National Bank of India was appointed the official bank of the government.

In a move to assert its leading status, the National Bank of India designed an iconic building to house the bank’s head office in 1928. Completed in 1931, the building was situated on Government Road (current Moi Avenue) with a rear elevation to Victoria Street (current Tom Mboya Street) and a return frontage to Short Street, commanding a dominant presence in what was then the central business district of Nairobi.