Old Dispensary located on Mizingani Road, about 200 m. from the port’s entry, this grand four-storey building with a set of particularly decorative balconies.
This building was originally build in the 1980′s as a private house for a prominent Ismaili Indian merchant called Tharia Topan who was a customs advisor to the sultans, and one of the wealthiest individuals on Zanzibar at the time.
In 1899 he gave the house up to be used as a dispensary, also funding the medicine and other services.
The dispensary fell into disrepair during the 1970′s and 1980′s, but was renovated in 1995 with funding from the Aga Khan Charitable Trust.
A few years later it opened as the Stone Town Cultural Centre.
