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Name: MacJOHN, Mesrop

Birth Date: 1874

Death Date: 6.10.1915 Mombasa, blackwater fever

Nationality: Armenian

First Date: 1887

Last Date: 1915

Profession: Opened a provision store in Mombasa. Later managed 1st Hotel in Nairobi (the Masonic Hotel). At one stage he owned the Hotel Cecil in Mombasa. c/o Metropole Hotel

Area: Mombasa, Nairobi, 1930 Mombasa

Married: In Mombasa 12.2.1904 Titina de L'Agua

Book Reference: Red 22, KAD, Land, Gillett, HBEA, Cuckoo, Red 25, Red 31, North, Playne, Drumkey, Land, Advertiser, Gazette, Globe, Nicholls, EAHB 1904

General Information:

Leader 14 (as McJohn, W.)
Land - 1907 - M. McJohn - Building, 15,050 sq.ft., Mombasa, 6-7-05, Registered 24-6-07
Cuckoo - Proprietor of Cecil Hotel, an Armenian (Foran never found out how he got his name), was obliging and courteous.
Playne - Hotel Cecil and MacJohn's Building, Mombasa - 'A word personal about Mr MacJohn. He came to Mombasa in 1897 and started store-keeping. He also had the first hotel in Nairobi (the Masonic Hotel). He started the Great Eastern Hotel and later on the Hotel Cecil. The MacJohn Building is his latest enterprise. Mr MacJohn owns property in Nairobi and a fine residence in the Kilindini Road. The Hotel Cecil is a two-storied building, and contains 18 bedrooms, dining, sitting, and billiard-rooms, baths (hot and cold), and one bar. About 16 hands are employed under European supervision. ......... The hotel was established in 1903, the proprietors being Messrs M. MacJohn & Co.
MacJohn's Building, opposite the Roman Catholic Church, is also of two stories, and was erected for shops beneath and a hotel above. Including the bathrooms, a dozen or more of which have shower attachments, it has 76 rooms. ....... This is said to be the finest building of its kind in BEA.
Drumkey 1909 - Auctioneer - Trolley Line, Mombasa
Land 1909 - M. MacJohn - Buildings 8800 sq.ft. and 9437.58 sq.ft. - Mombasa - 20/11/07 - Leasehold for 25 years from 20/11/07 - Registered 22/10/09
Land - 1911 - M. MacJohn - Buildings, .520 acre - Mombasa - 29/4/08 - Leasehold for 95 years from 1/1/12 - Registered 22/1/12
Advertiser - 18/12/08 - Advert - Hotel Cecil - M. MacJohn & Co. Props. - opposite the Law Courts & Railway Station Gazette - 20/10/15 - Probate & Admin. - Mesrope Macjohn of Mombasa died at Mombasa 6/10/15. Applied for by Mackicoff Simon Macjohn of Mombasa
The Globe Trotter 6/3/07 - Advertisement for "Hotel Cecil" Mombasa, Strictly First Class, Proprietors M. MacJohn & Co. North - Running provision store at Mombasa c. 1890; Merchant at Nairobi June 1901; owner of hotel and general store at Nairobi with Rossenrode 1901; Hotel and store sold to Tommy Wood 2/11/1901; Proprietor of 'The International Hotel' Nairobi, Sept 1903, changed name of Hotel to 'The Great Eastern Hotel' Dec 1903; Book debts of W.H. Tiller assigned to him, Mombasa 26/8/1905
EAHB 1904 - Mombasa & Kilindini Residents - Macjohn, M. - Proprietor, International Hotel, Ndia Kuu
Red 25 - Metropole Hotel, Mombasa
Block Notes - Mombasa 1903 - "As far as my recollections go, the other trader was Smith Mackenzie run by a man called MacJohn who also ran a bar and a couple of rooms which he let and eventually he built an hotel on the site where His Majesty's Offices now stand, called 'The Metropolitan'. Another hotel at the bottom where the present Mombasa Club is, The Africa Hotel, is no longer in existence and all surrounding buildings owned mostly by Indians with a sprinkling of German traders.

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