What it is
The Old Dispensary is the ornate four-storey building on the Mizingani seafront at the northern end of Stone Town, between the port and the Forodhani end of the waterfront. It is the most decorated façade in the town and, unlike most of the seafront landmarks, it is not a palace or a fort.
What the record says
The advisory body evaluation prepared for the World Heritage inscription describes it as a former hospital, built by a wealthy Ismaili businessman to commemorate the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1887, in an Anglo-Indian design. It singles out one feature as the centrepiece: the projecting double balcony, with carved uprights and tracery barge-boards. UNESCO’s description of the property lists the Old Dispensary among the town’s major buildings.
The same evaluation records that the building had been restored and was in use as the Zanzibar Cultural Centre. That statement dates from the inscription and should be read with its date. No current statement of the building’s use could be found: Zanzibar’s own museums, heritage and tourism websites all refuse connections, so this page records them as unreachable rather than drawing a conclusion from silence.
Seeing it
The building is on the seafront road and the exterior is the point of it. The Stone Town Conservation and Development Authority rehabilitated the Mizingani seafront and promenade between 2017 and 2018, which is the walk that runs past it. In its brief to the January 2025 advisory mission the authority listed ongoing works in the area, including covering the open stormwater drainage around the Old Dispensary.
Most walking routes pass it on the way between the port end of the town and Forodhani. It repays a few minutes of looking up rather than a planned visit, and the balcony is best read from across the road rather than from underneath it.
Common questions
Can you go inside the Old Dispensary?
No reachable source sets out current arrangements. The World Heritage evaluation recorded it as restored and in use as the Zanzibar Cultural Centre, but that is a statement of its condition at inscription. The Zanzibar heritage and tourism websites are unreachable, so this is unconfirmed rather than closed.
Why was it built?
As a hospital, by a wealthy Ismaili businessman, to mark Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee in 1887. The design is Anglo-Indian and its defining feature is the projecting double balcony.