Perim Island
PERIM HOTEL
​
Perim only ever had the one ‘hotel’, originally named the Grand Hotel, then the Oriental Hotel and finally simply the Perim Hotel. The hotel had been built prior to 1888 and the general description was of a 2-storey house, the lower portion being built of stone and mortar. The top portion was constructed of iron, with strong iron girders resting on top of the masonry, with iron columns supporting the roof. The roof of the upper portion projected sufficiently to form a verandah, and the floor of the upper portion formed a verandah for the ground floor.
​
The building had an outside iron staircase at each end and an inside wooden staircase in the middle. The outer dimensions including verandah were: length 78ft, width 56ft 6ins.
​
The verandahs at either end were 6ft wide and along the sides about 9ft wide, giving the outer walls of the hotel a length of 66ft and a width of 34ft.
​
The first floor consisted of three areas each about 30ft by 19ft; one was a billiard-room, which also housed the bar; the centre room was a store-room whilst the third was divided equally into an office and a bagatelle room, the latter being the Victorian equivalent of a slot-machine room! There appear to have been no bedrooms in this ‘hotel’. There is no plan of the ground floor and of course they might have been there, but it is thought unlikely.
​
In October 1889 the Managing Agent of the PCC, Mr Turner, informed the Assistant Resident that he was about to improve the quality of life for Europeans living on Perim. He was going to put a manageress and a couple of barmaids into the hotel for a two-month trial period to provide a mess and boarding house and to give the employees of the Coal Company a chance of forming a sort of club for general entertainment such as smoking concerts, etc.
Mr Turner also wanted passengers from ships in harbour to be able to go to the hotel at any hour of the day or night, and for Company employees involved in coaling these ships to be able to do likewise. The Assistant Resident was unhappy about this last request but the Residency staff in Aden took a very relaxed view of the idea, their only stipulation being that Mrs Lichterman, the manageress, must be an employee of the Company. The Resident also pointed out that as the Union Club in Aden was on licenced premises he had no objection to there being a club in the hotel.
​
For some reason a club was not formed for another four or five years and as there is no mention of female staff at the hotel at the time of the 1891 census they may not have remained at the end of the trial period. The layout of the first floor was changed in 1894, when the Perim Club was formed. According to Lieutenant Sangster, the Assistant Resident at Perim at the time, this took up half the first floor. In 1897 it was reported that the bar had been moved [back] into the billiard room – so it had presumably been moved elsewhere on the formation of the Club.
Sangster had got into trouble with the Resident due to his agreeing to be President of the new club. As he was the only magistrate on the island this could have resulted in a clash of interest – he should have accepted honorary membership of the club, the members of which were ‘balloted for in the usual way and only those of some social standing’ being welcome to join. In 1894 there were 35 adult Europeans living on Perim and one cannot but feel sorry for those whose social standing was not considered sufficient to merit election.
The photograph taken when the hotel was still the Oriental, is from a postcard issued in around 1903; the picture of the Perim Hotel is from a postcard issued around 1912. The cricket ground was between the hotel and the harbour and most of those standing outside the front of the hotel are almost certainly part of a team. In the third photograph, which shows the hotel next door to a more modern office bungalow, the hotel has seen better days – the side verandah is no more. This photograph dates from around 1930.
