The main building served as the American Consulate in Zanzibar between 1834 and 1884, then was owned by Cowasjee Dinshaw and Partners, who went on to become one of the largest trading companies in the Indian Ocean. 
The hotel has also seen a few celebrities pass through its doors - Mahatma Gandhi stayed here a few weeks on his journey back to India from South Africa in 1930; Freddie Mercury and his family visited whenever they came back to Zanzibar on holidays.
<a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Erasmus_Kamugisha" title="User:Erasmus Kamugisha">Erasmus Kamugisha</a>
CC BY-SA 4.0
<span class="int-own-work" lang="en">Own work</span>