Page 10 - 2020 SoM Journal Vol 73 No 1 FINAL_Neat

2 The Society of Malawi Journal

Burnt!

THE CONFLAGRATION AT ‘THE OLD RESIDENCY’

The hotel’s name ‘Masangola’ was originally coined by local people in
reference to the pointed turrets situated at either end of the façade (the word
‘masangola’ is conflation of the Chinyanja words madenga osongola).
In 1887 Consul Hawes, having chosen Zomba as his headquarters,
purchased 100 acres of land from Chief Malemia in exchange for 96 yards of blue
calico, 48 yards of white calico, 2 pieces of red handkerchief, 6 Arabic scarfs,1
dispatch box, 3 mirrors and 3 knives and commissioned one of the Buchanan
brothers, noted pioneer coffee planters, to build a Residency for £600 to function
both as an office and residence; a role the building successfully fulfilled until
Government House was built in 1901. However, Hawes left before the building
work was complete and the task was left to his successor, Harry Johnston, to
complete. Harry Johnston notably replaced the grass thatch with a double roof of
corrugated iron and Mulanje cedar and had rooms constructed to the sides and rear
to form a hollow square to make the building more easily defendable in the event
of trouble. Johnston also had the front terraced gardens laid out and imaginatively
planted and maintained a varied menagerie of wild animals and birds.
Described as a fine, double-storied building – a singular rarity at the
period in itself - it was for long considered ‘the finest European dwelling in East
Africa north of the Zambezi River’.