Jewish family that turned Fairview into serene country hotel

The newly wed couple had just disembarked from the morning train after a relaxed 12-hour journey from Mombasa, only to be welcomed by the sweltering heat and swirling dust of Nairobi.

The gentleman was dressed in a khaki safari suit, jungle boots and a topee while the woman was dressed, less appropriately for the occasion, in a fitted lace-up dress, sandals and a sun hat.

The couple had sailed to Mombasa from England to spend their honeymoon on safari in Kenya, with relatives farming in the White Highlands.

“Taxi!” The gentleman shouted as he snapped his fingers outside the railway station. Suddenly, an immaculate rickshaw – complete with a white sun canopy – drew alongside, with two African drivers, one at the front, between the shafts, and the other at the rear for extra man power and braking.

“Taxi, bwana,” the leading driver said.

“Fairview Hotel?” enquired the gentleman as the drivers prepared to load the luggage onto the rickshaw.

The lead driver explained that he would charge extra because Fairview Hotel was uphill.

After a little haggling, off they went, on a dusty track, the African drivers huffing and puffing in musical unison, with sweat dripping off their bodies.

The year is 1931. Fairview Hotel had just been built on a five acre plot along Bishops Road in Upper Hill.

Fairview Hotel is a box shaped, double storeyed building, typical of Georgian colonial style, with butch stone walls under a Mangalore tiled roof.

Windows are glazed in rectangular steel casements and frames, while doors are made of beautiful panelled timber hung in recessed timber frames.

Floors are finished in polished parquet to the main surfaces and ceramic tiles to wet areas. The original hotel had accommodation of 40 rooms and was built to recreate a country atmosphere.

Though not in the luxury class of the Norfolk or the New Stanley of the day, the Fairview offered a serene environment away from the din of the city at competitive prices or as Charles Szlapak puts it, “They (luxury hotels) charge double the price for half the service”.

The Szlapaks, a Jewish family from Poland, came to Kenya in 1938, seeking a better life. In 1946, they bought the Fairview Hotel believing it was what they were looking for. They were vindicated .

Three generations of the family have run the business successfully until last year, a period of close to 70 years.

Between 1940 and 1950, the Szlapak family would buy or lease more hotels including Parklands Private Hotel, the Caledonian, the Kisumu, the Hurligham, the Manor and Westfield hotels in Mombasa. In 1964, the family also bought the Gaylord on Ngong Road.

Over the years, extensions have been added to the original structure but careful attention has been given to retaining the “country hotel within town” character of the establishment.

Today, the hotel boasts 127 rooms and though not quite five star, it can be safely classified as a luxury hotel.

It features a perfectly landscaped garden with plenty of bird life, a unique water feature – the largest in Africa, a swimming pool and fully equipped conference facilities. For the wine connoisseurs, there is a basement cellar stocked with the finest wines and managed by a distinguished winemaster.

The hotel has the rather dubious distinction of being “the safest hotel in Nairobi” by virtue of its location opposite the heavily guarded Israeli Embassy. Security is, as one would expect, tight at the hotel.

In 2004, the Szlapak family decided to build a more modern hotel on the same plot of land catering for the business class on short stays. Thus the Country Lodge was born, providing 84 bed and breakfast rooms. Although the two hotels are run as separate units, there is an interconnecting covered walkway for patrons wishing to enjoy full hotel services next door.

In 2012, the Szlapaks entered into a joint venture with City Lodge, a group of hotels based in South Africa, and sold 50 per cent of their shareholding in the two hotels.

Early in 2014, the Szlapaks called it a day and sold the remaining 50 per cent stake to City Lodge. The Country Lodge changed its name to Town Lodge following the acquisition.

City Lodge intends to use its footprint in Kenya to expand its hotel business in the East African region.