building Early Accra (bEA)

these are among the earliest official records of architecture, construction and contact with  (colonial) city planning authorities known to be available in Ghana

Our Aim

We aim to digitise and make available in perpetuity a collection of architectural documents and administrative records submitted to the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) from its early colonial manifestation as the Accra Town Council in 1894. 

This collection of historical documents is in a precarious state and will be lost forever without intervention.

The documents - many of them up to a hundred years old - are in an ongoing state of deterioration and some of them have already been lost forever. This is why our project is urgent and vital. The material is extremely important for knowledge of our history as well as the study of architecture, building, urban history, genealogy, and other topics relating to early urban life in Ghana. It is the only such record available as Accra was the first settlement in Ghana to have a Council which kept written records such as these.