Chapter 12 Famagusta on Cyprus and the Sea: Hotel Architecture, Urban Development and Tourism during the British Colonial and Early Postcolonial Period
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Abstract
This chapter investigates the development of Varosha, Famagusta’s southern suburb, from the early British colonial period (1878-1960) to its becoming the center of tourism of Cyprus in the early postcolonial years. Without ignoring the 1960s, it concentrates on the earlier decades and, based on archival data and postcard images, assesses the architectural history of individual hotel buildings and the general development of hotel architecture on the island, as well as private and governmental agents and their interest in attracting overseas tourism, specifically to Famagusta. The study suggests that three phases of hotel construction prior to the mid-1960s—two of which correspond to the opening and enlargement of the Nicosia passenger airport—contributed to the modernization of the island and Famagusta specifically. It recovers the history of construction of the King George Hotel, Florida Hotel and Constantia Hotel, which mark the beginning of seaside tourism in Famagusta, and demonstrates that architectural modernization, in its reduction and abandonment of the colonial and vernacular vocabulary, was already evident in hotels between the mid-1930s and the early 1950s.