From Colonial Grandeur to Urban Ruins: The Rise and Fall of Freetown’s City Hotel
Alphonso Lisk-Carew (1883–1969) extensively photographed the City Hotel during his career as a candid photographer. On social media platforms, expatriates and residents have recalled the City Hotel as the location where British novelist Graham Greene wrote part of The Heart of the Matter. Memories include Flash, the head waiter; Uncle Freddie (Ferrari), the Italian-Swiss hotelier; Aunty Fatu, his Sierra Leonean wife; a ceiling fan that cooled the restaurant; and waiters dressed in crisp white uniforms. One individual recalled accompanying her father, a medical doctor, on a professional visit to the hotel. Another user reported possessing an original sketch of the City Hotel by the prominent Sierra Leonean artist Hassan Bangura. Another user recounted exchanging British pound sterling at the City Hotel in the late 1970s, receiving a rate of two leones per pound at a location behind the Ministry of Finance building. By the time the City Hotel was demoli...