The iconic McMillan Memorial Library is the only building in Kenya that stands on a piece of land that cannot be grabbed as it is protected by an Act of Parliament.
The McMillan Memorial Library Act was passed in 1938 and has been amended six times the last time being in 1966.
The McMillan Memorial Library Act partly reads, "the Trustees may at any time sell, transfer or exchange land acquired under section 10 or other land which may for the time being form part of the Trust Fund (excepting only the piece or parcel of land known as Plot Number L.R. 209/1890)."
LR 209/1890 is the land the library sits on and to sell it would require the law to either be repealed or amended and even then, the building would fall under sites and monuments.
The library was built with a grant from the McMillan family to celebrate their burly American Patriarch, William Northrup McMillan, who died in 1925.
The family listed a few members to manage the building the first one being a military officer named Ralph Beresford Turner.
Interestingly, all the Trustees specifically named in it are long dead but the City authority has run the library since 1962.
The law revolved around the trust that would run the Library and has helped protect the piece of land from grabbers.
[caption caption="The McMillan Memorial Library"]
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