Almost unnoticed, a little bit of Abu Dhabi history vanished in the last few weeks.
Standing, abandoned, next to the ADMA-OPCO headquarters behind the Cornice, the former Gray-Mackenzie building was demolished almost exactly 50 years after it was built. This image shows the building and the compound in which it stood in the late 1960s. It looked out over the sea front and backed onto these tradition arish dwellings, which themselves had disappeared within a couple of years.
Gray-Mackenzie was one of the oldest trading companies in the Arabian Gulf, first founded as Gray Paul in 1883. The former British merchants has changed hands several times since, with the name surviving in Abu Dhabi as licensed vendors of alcoholic drinks. Back in the 1960s, the company imported a much wider range of goods, and its arrival in the city was an early indication of the growing prosperity brought by oil. That it survived so long can be attributed to what might be called benign neglect. Gray-Mackenzie moved to a new building close to Le Royal Meridian in 1982, but redevelopment is understood to have been stalled by a land dispute.
Old Abu Dhabi hands recall that this old building was marked by a trademark anchor and ship’s capstan outside the main entrance. The anchor and capstan have since been lost. So now, has the building.
* James Langton
