Interesting history!
In the 1920s the Princes theatre was constructed in Nairobi. It was located at the intersection of Stewart Street and Portal Street, (now Muindi Mbingu Street and Banda Street).
Princes theatre was an imposing building, constructed in the latest British architectural fashion. It was built as a cinema with a small stage equipped for live shows. Wilfred Harris, an ardent supporter of theatre joined Vassey and Weatherall to present a series of stage plays there. Most people who lived in Nairobi at the time acted in some local stage production at this theatre.
At some point the cinema was renamed Playhouse Theatre.
In 1935 the restaurant and bar owner at Playhouse Theatre declared bankruptcy! Business was tough in those days! In 1938 the Municipal council issued a notice ordering the lane behind the theatre be built to specifications and the cost be borne by the theatre!! (all this from the old Kenya Gazettes). In the same year,1938, the cinema started showing 20th Century Fox films. In 1941 Playhouse Theatres Limited was dissolved and was struck off the Register of companies. It probably then had a new owner.
Like many other theatres in the British colonies, theatre shows were replaced with films only, sometime after WW2 due to poor patronage for the theatre shows as most soldiers had returned to Europe.
By 1960 the theatre had been demolished and had been replaced with a new building, the Portal Place House, which still exists today
Princes Theatre is on the left (now Banda street):
Playhouse theatre in a more built up Nairobi:
2018 photo showing a new building (Portal Place House) replaced Playhouse and the lane off Banda Street was still named Playhouse Lane (probably the same lane the theatre had to pay the Municipal Council for it's construction in 1938!!):
2023 Google photo showing the name of the new building ( Portal Place House). The sign 'Playhouse Lane' (and a little bit of Nairobi's history) has disappeared!!:
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