Andafiavaratra Palace
William Pool · Antananarivo, Madagascar · 1872
Andafiavaratra Palace was built for Prime Minister Rainilaiarivony and occupies a prominent elevated position in Antananarivo’s historic upper city. William Pool combined a formal European-influenced palace composition with local brick construction and a highly symmetrical plan centered on a tall cornered mass. The building later served different governmental and cultural functions and today preserves objects associated with the royal palace complex. Completed in the nineteenth century, it is a significant architectural record of Madagascar’s engagement with imported building forms during a period of political modernization.