Tippu Tip's House is a historical building in Stone Town

Stone Town

Stone Town also known as Mji Mkongwe is the old part of Zanzibar City, the main city of Zanzibar, in Tanzania, as opposed to Ng'ambo . It is located on the western coast of Unguja, the main island of the Zanzibar Archipelago...

, Zanzibar

Zanzibar

Zanzibar ,Persian: زنگبار, from suffix bār: "coast" and Zangi: "bruin" ; is a semi-autonomous part of Tanzania, in East Africa. It comprises the Zanzibar Archipelago in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of the mainland, and consists of numerous small islands and two large ones: Unguja , and Pemba...

, located in Suicide Alley in the Shangani ward near the Africa House Hotel and Serena Inn, about 15-25 minute walking time from the Old Fort

Old fort of Zanzibar

The Old Fort , also known as the Arab Fort and by other names, is a fortification located in Stone Town, the capital of Zanzibar. It is the oldest building and a major visitor attraction of Stone Town...

 and Forodhani Gardens. It is the house where the powerful merchant and slave trader Tippu Tip

Tippu Tip

Tippu Tip or Tib , real name Hamad bin Muḥammad bin Jumah bin Rajab bin Muḥammad bin Sa‘īd al-Murghabī, , was a Swahili-Zanzibari trader. He was famously known as Tippu Tib after an eye disease which made him blind...

 (1837-1905) lived. The building was a private residence until the Zanzibar Revolution

Zanzibar Revolution

The Zanzibar Revolution by local African revolutionaries in 1964 overthrew the Sultan of Zanzibar and his mainly Arab government. An ethnically diverse state consisting of a number of islands off the east coast of Tanganyika, Zanzibar had been granted independence by Britain in 1963...

, and was later converted into a block of flats. Despite being a tourist attraction, it is not formally open to visitors and it is in such a state of decay that it has been described as "the most magnificent squat in all of Africa". The large decorated carved wooden door, as well as the black and white marble steps, still testify the great wealth of the historical owner of the house.