A Brief History of the Kenwyn House

As far as we know the house was built in roughly 1855. The first person to supposedly live in the house was the chief medical officer at the time, a Dr. James Henry Brooks. Dr. Brooks was the chief medical surgeon as well as the German consulate to the Seychelles from 1858 – 1879 (He died in 1920 at age 89yrs). 

In 1878 Cable & Wireless (Formerly the ‘Eastern Telegraphic Company’) purchased the house from Dr. Brooks. The chief engineers for Cable & Wireless resided at Kenwyn House whilst they were here setting up global communications for the Seychelles. There is a general consensus that C&W were the ones to give the house the name “Kenwyn House”- named after a village in Cornwall. (Cornwall incidentally was the area where the underwater telegraph cables to the Seychelles came from). 

Towards the end of the 20th century C&W used Kenwyn House as a residence for their general managers. The large metallic towers at the back of the property were part of the first ever equipment to bring communication to the Seychelles. 

In late 2004, Flawless (Seychelles) Ltd undertook the task of restoring Kenwyn House to its former glory. The infrastructure of the house remains as it was over 150yrs ago. Unfortunately much of the wood in the interior has had to be replaced but the floor boards, ceiling beams and entrance doors are original. The wood used was a combination of bois nat and bois noir wood.  

Some of the furniture inside the house is from the UK and is over 180yrs old- they came with the house.  

In 1984 as per the National Monuments Act (Chapter 140), Kenwyn House was declared a National Monument of the Seychelles. Flawless (Seychelles) Ltd (The Company) is a diamond dealer by trade. The first and main floor of the building is now a showroom of some of the finest cut diamonds and Tanzanite’s in the world, among other semi-precious gemstones. Our holding company in South Africa is based on the Premier Mine, Cullinan, just north of Pretoria which is the same mine where the famous Cullinan diamond was discovered in 1905.  

As well as the fine diamond and Tanzanite jewellery we have a wide range of Pearls, amber and beaded jewellery on display. For the men you can find a variety of hand stitched exotic leather (crocodile & ostrich) accessories such as wallets and business card holders- all of these products conform with CITES standards.  

Downstairs you will find the first combined Seychellois Art Gallery in the Seychelles housing some of the finest artworks from over a dozen Seychellois artists. 

Upstairs you can expect to find other fine products such as leather luggage, toiletries, silk products and Pewter works- all hand made and exclusive to Kenwyn House.

Conservation and Restoration

Images from the restoration process at Kenwyn House all the way from the warehouse to the three tiers of the house.