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Ducor InterContinental Hotel, Monrovia
The Ducor Intercontinental was conceived and
built as the grand showcase of Liberia. So it
is. From the palatial block and white marble
public rooms to the murals, mosaics and
sculptures by Liberian and foreign artists, to
the unusual swimming pool set in a lush
sub-tropical garden, the Ducor Intercontinental
is the perfect starting place to see Monrovia
as it should be seen. The Ducor
Intercontinental, fully air-conditioned (which
was new at the time in the region), has 220
over-sized guest rooms, 100 have private
balconies and 120 open onto a view of the
South Atlantic. Each guest room has a private
bath bath, luxurious wall-to-wall carpet,
telephone and radio. Special features include
completely equipped sun terraces, all banking,
travel and valet services, tennis courts, and
an orchestra that plays for afternoon tea.
For dining and dancing the Ducor brings you the
best from different parts of the world: The
Chandelier Restaurant - with a flair for French
and continental "haute Cuisine" and an
orchestra in residence. The Green Pagoda
Restaurant and Roof Garden Bar - Oriental
delicacies, dancing nightly and a truly
memorable view of the city and the sea. La
Parisienne Night Club - great international
performers, its own dance orchestra and a very
late closing hour.
Finally, the internationally trained and
multilingual staff performs all the extra
special little services that had made each
Intercontinental hotel unique.
Hotel:
Ducor InterContinental Hotel
This Hotel had very much the Neal Prince touch
of incorporating the local culture into the
design of the Hotel. The Hotel had a history of
being courtesy, pleasurable and reliability of
the services being offered to the Guest to
reassure them the International Hotel Standards
were to be met at all times. This Hotel was the
only place to stay when you were in Liberia.
To the Western traveller, Liberia seems at
first, the most familiar of the West African
countries. The language is English and lulled
by the constant sea-breeze, you may forget that
you are in a remote country. Forget until,
between a Baptist church and a tower of
executive offices, you come upon a picturesque
bazaar of ivory, gold, masks, African prints
and carvings. Or until, rounding a corner on
Broad Street, you are confronted by a tribal
chief, in full pomp and regalia and trailed by
his entourage. Monrovia is a sea port. From its
highest point you can see the South Atlantic,
the Mesurado River and the magnificent high
plains of the interior. It is here, with a view
to the sea and to the plains, that you are
welcomed to one of the two truly great hotels
in West Africa, the Ducor Intercontinental. The
other - the Hotel Ivoire in Abidjan, capital of
the Ivory Coast.
Photograph courtesy of Arie de Zanger, IHC
Photographer
To the traveller, on of Liberia's great natural
resources is the miles of white sandy beaches
on the South Atlantic surf. You are invited to
swim and sun at one of these truly great
beaches near the hotel. If you have the time
you may want to explore some of the thousands
of hidden lagoons along the shoure. In the
mornings explore the city's shops. Long a free
port, Monrovia is rapidly becoming a shopper's
paradise. Inland, Harbel, the largest rubber
plantation in the world at the time, is well
worth the one and half hour drive - as well as
the beautiful mountains of Nimba, resembling
Swiss landscape and scenery with on of the
richest iron ore reservoirs of the world.
Within a few minutes from the city are a wealth
of villages, rich in colour and ancient
customs. Finally there is the grandeur of the
high plains at the inland border, surpassing
anything that has yet been written about them.
Location:
Monrovia, Liberia
Architect:
Moshe Mayer was an Israeli industrialist,
property developer and the builder who had
constructed the Ducor Palace, being a 100-room
hotel on Mamba Point, a hilltop named for a
deadly snake, in the city of Monrovia, capital
of Liberia, in accordance to Jim Potter as
noted in his book, "A Room With A World View",
page 71. Pan Am had a long hostory in Liberia,
which having built the International Airport
known as the Roberts Field. This airport was a
little over an hour drive from Monrovia.
Lead Interior Designer:
Neal A. Prince, R.A., A.S.I.D, Lead Designer
V.P. of Graphic and Interior Design Department,
InterContinental Hotel Group 1960-1985
Rooms:
209 air-conditioned rooms, with balcony
or ocean views. During this time in history,
air-conditioned rooms were a new amenity of
luxury to Hotels, as air conditioned rooms were
not standard as they have become in today's
Hotels.
Interiors designed by Mr. Neal Prince, R.A., A.S.I.D (1962)
Interiors designed by Mr. Neal Prince, R.A., A.S.I.D (1962)
Guest rroms were designed for your comfort
at the time. For convience for the guest, room
service was avaiable, Guest Services, a gift
shop, barber and beauty salon were also
avaiable to bring comfort to the guest stay
while staying within the Hotel.
How does Mr. Prince's identify an outstanding
Hotel?
Response: When you arrive at the Hotel,
telephone room service and order a club
sandwich to be delivered to your room. Once the
room service had delivered your requested club
sandwich, take a moment to access how it was
prepared, what materials they used to create
your club sandwich and then taste the sandwich.
Mr. Prince firmly believes, from 55 years of
travelling around the world that if a Hotel is
able to prepare the "simple" club sandwich
correctly, then that Hotel is being operated
correctly.
Restaurants/Lounges:
Green Pagoda's Garden Terrace:
Cocktail Lounge:
Chandelier Restaurant:
Barbeque Disco:
This Barbneque Disco Dance Lounge was the place
to be every Friday night at 7:00 p.m.
This image reflects the remainding wall releifs
that still exsist today as the Hotel has since
falling into ruins. However, you are able to
still see the intense wall carvings that Neal
Prince has incorporated into the Hotel for the
Resturant, as noted above the of this image.
Meeting Facilities:
Interiors designed by Mr. Neal Prince, R.A., A.S.I.D (1962)
Photography by Scott Harrison
If the guest plans included the use of the
banquet or meeting rooms, the Ducor
Inter-Continental Hotel was always ready with
flexible rooms for everything from banquets for
40 to 350, and up to receptions for 600. Which
at the time, were unheard of as there were not
place other then the Ducor Hotel to offer such
services in the area.
Pool Facilities:
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This Hotel was the place to be seeing and to
entertain, especially at the ultra-modern
kidney-shaped swimming pool the dry season of
the year.
Comments:
This property was located on the highest point
in Liberia, overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.
This property was lost due to various disputes
within the Country and the economic claspe of
their economy, due to their disputes.
Images held by the Collection:
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