Ilojo Bar, also called Olaiya House or Casa da Fernandez, was a Brazilian-styled

historic building This list is of heritage registers, inventories of cultural properties, natural and man-made, tangible and intangible, movable and immovable, that are deemed to be of sufficient heritage value to be separately identified and recorded. In many i ...

located near

Tinubu Square Tinubu Square (formerly Independence Square), is an open space landmark located in Broad Street, Lagos Island, Lagos State, Nigeria named after the Yoruba slave trader, merchant, and aristocrat Madam Efunroye Tinubu. It was formerly called ' ...

Lagos Island Lagos Island (''Ìsàlẹ̀ Èkó'') is the principal and central local government area (LGA) in Lagos, it was the capital of Lagos State until 1957. It is part of the Lagos Division. As of the preliminary 2006 Nigerian census, the LGA had a p ...

Lagos State Lagos State ( yo, Ìpínlẹ̀ Èkó) is a state in southwestern Nigeria. Of the 36 states, it is both the most populous and smallest in area. Bounded to the south by the Bight of Benin and to the west by the international border with Benin ...

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of G ...

. It was originally built as a bar and restaurant in 1855 by the Fernandez family who employed returning ex-slaves who had mastered the art of building while in

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the souther ...

. Ilojo Bar was subsequently sold to Alfred Omolana Olaiya of the Olaiya family in 1933 and was declared a national monument in 1956 by the

National Commission for Museums and Monuments The National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM), also referred to as National Museum of Nigeria was Founded in 1979 by the Federal Government of Nigeria with decree 77 of 1979 to be in charge of the collection, documentation, conservatio ...

The name "Ilojo Bar"

After the house was sold to Alfred Omolona Olaiya in 1933, he renamed the building "Ilojo Bar" after his hometown of "Ilojo" in Ijesa Isu, Ekiti State.

Demolition

The building was pulled down on Sunday, 11 September 2016, in suspicious circumstances during the Eid weekend in Lagos. The matter is still being investigated. The land is now under the control of the Lagos State Government.

References

Afro-Brazilian architecture Brazilian Nigerian Demolished buildings and structures in Lagos Lagos Island Landmarks in Lagos 1855 establishments in Africa History of Lagos restaurants in Lagos Drinking establishments in Nigeria 19th-century establishments in Lagos Restaurants established in 1855 Historic buildings and structures in Nigeria Buildings and structures demolished in 2016 {{Lagos-stub