Larnaca Club conversion to Cultural Centre
The project belongs to the Municipality of Larnaca and the budget, amounting to €1.300.000 + VAT, is co-financed by the European Funds Unit of the Ministry of Interior.
According to the historical data we have, it was built in the second half of the 18th century and was used at the beginning as an inn for travelers who arrived at the port with their animals – mainly camels – for the transportation and collection of goods. The name of the heavy two-leaf front door of the building is not random, as it is known as the camel door.
Early 19th century is referred to as the residence of Jacometto Mattei. According to N. G. Kyriazis, the building was used as the residence of the French doctor Joseph Irenee Foblant who had come to Cyprus in 1839. This doctor, together with the French nuns of the monastery of St. Joseph, provided from 1845 to 1864, free medical examination and medicine to many residents of the society of Larnaca and the whole of Cyprus, at a time when endemic diseases were heating up, such as the plague, dysentery, cholera etc.
With the arrival of the English in 1878 the old inn and house was transformed into a club for civil servants and the military, while the large courtyard changed use and became the first tennis court in Cyprus. One of the first sports introduced by the English in Larnaca, apart from tennis, were the horse racing where riders were local police officers [known as “zaptiedes”].
The building consists of a lower house and upstairs it has with seven rooms each with a fireplace. The entrance proceeds to a corridor that leads to a vaulted patio and large courtyard. The façade is simple with a simple covered balcony.
It has been declared an ancient monument. A direct repair was needed, since recently, part of the building in the inner courtyard has collapsed.
Source: Free translation from [Konstantinos Kakoulas, The Club with the Seven Fireplaces, Larnaca 1987. 2. Glafkos Papadouris, History of Larnaca, p.297, edition of Larnaca Municipality 2005].