The Old Residency Museum, the First Government house before the ASO ROCK (Abuja), that housed the offices of Lord Lugard and other early administrators and colonial officials of Nigeria is still intact in Calabar, the Cross River State capital.
You can still see the massive offices that served as Nigeria’s first ‘Aso Rock’, where both the Northern and Southern Protectorates of NIGERIA were administered from before it was amalgamated by the same Lord Lugard in 1914.
Materials used in erecting the structure, were designed and built in Glasgow, Scotland, and shipped in pieces to Calabar.
The one-storey edifice was built in 1884 in the Old Calabar. Now called ‘Old Residency’, it was originally known as the Government House, and it accommodated the early British administrators of the Niger coast territories.
The Old Residency is situated between the residence of the State Chief Judge and the official residence of the deputy governor, and with presidential lodge in front. The building, in 1950, also served as ministerial guest house.
After the Nigerian Civil War, the Old Residency accommodated offices of the then new South Eastern States of Nigeria.
The building was declared a National Monument in 1959 and has been renovated over time by the National Commission for Museums and Monuments in 1986.
Added information:While Lagos became the capital of the amalgamated Nigeria in 1914, the very first seat of the British colonial power in Nigeria was in Calabar
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