Ducor Hotel

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Ducor Hotel
The swimming pool area of the former Ducor Palace Hotel in Monrovia, Liberia.jpg
Former pool area
Ducor Hotel
Former namesDucor Palace, Ducor Intercontinental Hotel
General information
Type Hotel
Location Liberia
AddressBroad Street, Monrovia
Coordinates 6°19′13″N10°48′49″W / 6.32028°N 10.81361°W / 6.32028; -10.81361
Elevation7 m (23 ft)
Current tenantsNone (formerly numerous squatters)
Inaugurated1960
Ownerformerly Intercontinental Hotels

The Ducor Hotel is an abandoned luxury hotel in Monrovia, Liberia. Established in 1960, it had 106 rooms on eight stories. [1] [2] The hotel has fallen into disrepair after being occupied by squatters, later removed during a failed effort at a Libyan-funded renovation. [3] The building sits on Ducor Hill, the highest point of the city, overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, the Saint Paul River and Monrovia's West Point district. It is located at the end of Broad Street across from United Nations Boulevard in Monrovia's main business district.

Contents

History

The 120-room Ducor Palace Hotel opened in 1960, designed and built by Israeli industrialist Moshe Mayer. [4] It was the first international-class hotel in Liberia, and was for many years one of the few five-star hotels in all of Africa. [5] [6] The inauguration ceremony was an international affair, attended by President Sekou Toure of Guinea, and Israeli Foreign Minister Golda Meir, among others. [6] Intercontinental Hotels assumed operation on April 1, 1962 [7] and it was renamed the Ducor Intercontinental. [8] An extension to the hotel, with 110 more rooms and expanded meeting facilities, was completed in 1963. [9]

The Ducor Intercontinental hosted important meetings between African leaders. [10] Idi Amin is said to have swum in its pool while carrying his gun. [3] President Houphouet-Boigny of the Ivory Coast was so impressed with the hotel during his stay that he commissioned Mayer to erect a similar luxury hotel in Abidjan, the Hotel Ivoire. [11] The Ducor's various amenities, such as its pool, tennis courts, and a French restaurant, made it popular with tourists from the Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana, as well as visiting professionals from the US, Europe, and Asia.

Inter-Continental Hotels ceased managing the hotel in 1987. [12] With political uncertainty looming, the Ducor Hotel closed in 1989, just before the coup led by Charles Taylor which ousted President Samuel Doe and marked the beginning of the First Liberian Civil War. The building endured much damage during this period, due both to the violence of the war and to postwar looting. During this time, displaced residents of many of Monrovia's slums began to occupy the hotel's empty rooms.

In 2007, the Ministry of Justice evicted the squatters residing in the hotel. [13] In 2008, the Government of Liberia signed a lease agreement with the Government of Libya, who began clearing the property of debris in 2010 in preparation for a bidding process to be completed by June 2010. [14] The Italian design firm Serapioni prepared models of the renovated hotel. [15] The project was delayed several times, before finally being abandoned upon Liberia's severing of diplomatic relations with the Gaddafi government following the outbreak of the 2011 Libyan civil war. [16]

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References

  1. ↑ Owen's African and Middle East commerce & travel and international register. Owen's Commerce & Travel, Ltd. 1962. p. 188. Retrieved 23 April 2012.
  2. ↑ Great Britain. Board of Trade (July 1961). Board of Trade journal. H.M. Stationery Off. Retrieved 23 April 2012.
  3. 1 2 Howden, Daniel (2012). "THE LAST GUEST". Roads and Kingdoms.
  4. ↑ "Page 131".
  5. ↑ Schwartz, Peggy; Schwartz, Murray (31 May 2011). The Dance Claimed Me: A Biography of Pearl Primus . Yale University Press. p.  147. ISBN   978-0-300-15534-1 . Retrieved 23 April 2012.
  6. 1 2 Yitzhak Oron, Ed. (1960). Middle East Record Volume 1, 1960. The Moshe Dayan Center. p. 312. GGKEY:3KXGTYPACX2. Retrieved 23 April 2012.
  7. ↑ "Page 131".
  8. ↑ "Ducor Inter-Continental Hotel, Monrovia, Liberia, Mr. Neal Prince, International Hotel Interior Designer, ASID".
  9. ↑ "Page 131".
  10. ↑ Huband, Mark (30 June 1998). The Liberian Civil War. Psychology Press. p. 21. ISBN   978-0-7146-4785-2 . Retrieved 23 April 2012.
  11. ↑ Ebony. Johnson Publishing Company. December 1970. p. 83. ISSN   0012-9011 . Retrieved 23 April 2012.
  12. ↑ "Ducor Inter-Continental Hotel, Monrovia, Liberia, Mr. Neal Prince, International Hotel Interior Designer, ASID".
  13. ↑ "Ministry of Information". Archived from the original on 2007-05-03. Retrieved 2008-11-09.
  14. ↑ http://www.libyaonline.com/business/details.php?id=14250%5B%5D
  15. ↑ "Ducor Palace Hotel - Monrovia, Liberia". Serapioni. Retrieved 12 October 2015.
  16. ↑ Fofana, Fatoumata N. (June 20, 2011). "Libya Defaulted on Projects". Daily Observer. Archived from the original on September 28, 2011.
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