Located right in the heart of the Central Business District of Lagos Island on Customs Street, somewhat sandwiched between the parallel axes of Broad Street and the Marina, Glover Memorial Hall is a short distance from the popular Tinubu Square and other notable buildings like Stallion House (the tallest building on the Marina with which it shares a fence), Central Bank, General Post Office amongst others.
The foundation stone of the first Glover Memorial Hall is recorded to have been lain in 1887 on the parcel of land donated by the legendary activist – Madam Tinubu as a memorial to Governor Glover’s achievement in the extension of the Marina, the construction of Broad Street and the creation of a settlement in Ebute Metta for Egba refugees.
The old hall, built in the fashion of the colonial architecture of the time, was pulled down in 1961 and the present hall was erected further back on the same piece of land, thus giving up its former position right on the Marina. The new hall, designed by Watkins Grey in 1963 can be located in the same post independence era that saw the development of other buildings like Mandilas on Broad Street, Police Headquarters on Moloney Street, Alagbon building on James George road amongst others. These buildings were typified by the clean machine finish of the modern movement and tropical architecture later derived from it and the work of the designers of the Glover Memorial Hall show an active involvement in the prevailing architectural trends of that era.
While the old hall enjoyed prominence on the Lagos Skyline in the early 1900s, being right at the edge of a much less congested Marina, the new hall, though well integrated into the growing urban conurbation of the 1960s, has fallen out of context forty five years later. In the ‘60s, the new buildings being done by firms like James Cubitt and Partners, Ronarld Ward and Partners, Nickson and Borys, Godwin and Hopwood, amongst others were all done within the same architectural context, with a limited number of multistory buildings erected within that period of development - spurred on by the euphoria of national independence, a development that has panned out into an impressive proliferation of high rise buildings along the Broast Street / Marina stretch. Glover Hall is now trapped in the midst of these imposing towers, hidden in their shadows especially with the presence of the abutting 30 odd storey Stallion House – the tallest of their league which was incidentally built on the spot where the old hall once stood on the Marina. To make matters worse, the hall has had to contend with the stifling choreography of a high density Central Business District and the attendant issues of noise, traffic, parking and security. Add to that the steep competition being posed by much younger and more nimble venues like the MUSON Center and Terra Kulture, the Glover Hall seemed to have had its day.
But not anymore. In a concerted drive at restoring the glory of Old Glover which picked momentum at its Centennial Celebration exactly five years ago, Glover Memorial Hall has gone through a face lift. Under the supervision of GHK Architects, the stage has been expanded, the acoustics improved and the general outlook has been updated. Now Old Glover, which once fell so low as to have open fires made within its confines by ‘buka’ operators is back to its rightful place as a front line events venue in Lagos, playing host to high profile theatre shows and corporate functions.
Glover Memorial Hall with its one hundred and five years of history in Lagos remains a testament to the significant role of buildings as important participants in the unfolding of a people’s history. With the recent commencement of a 15 billion Naira urban regeneration project in the Lagos Island Central Business District by the Lagos State Government, the State’s leadership seems to have come to the realization that buildings and the streets that tie them together can be harnessed to foretell a prosperous future.
-Ayodele Arigbabu. (Published in The Guardian Life Magazine Oct 30-Nov 5, 2005)
0 comments:
Post a Comment