Hotel Metropole, Karachi

Hotel Metropole (Urdu: ہوٹل میٹروپول) is a defunct hotel on Abdullah Haroon Road (formerly Victoria Road) in Karachi, Pakistan.^[1][2][3]

Hotel Metropole was founded by Cyrus Minwalla.^[4] Construction began in 1949 on land provided by the Dinshaw family.^[5] The hotel was inaugurated in 1951 by Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi of Iran, in the presence of Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan and Fatima Jinnah, and opened to the public in 1954.^[5][4]

The ground floor once housed the offices of Pan American and KLM.^[5][4] The hotel was among the first establishments in Karachi to introduce a music and dance floor, and operated the nightclub "Summer".^[5][4]

Following the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 and the economic difficulties it brought, half of the hotel was converted into office space.^[5][4] A dedicated floor was reserved for Lufthansa crew until 1998.^[5][4] After the September 11 attacks, both Lufthansa and Swissair ceased operations in Pakistan, further reducing the hotel's occupancy.^[5][4]

The hotel closed and partial demolition began in 2004.^[5][6] By 2006–07, reconstruction plans had been abandoned and half the building remained dismantled.^[5][4]

في عام ٢٠١٨، استحوذ رجل الأعمال حبيب الله خان على المبنى وأرضه. ^{[ ٤ ]} وفي سبتمبر ٢٠١٩، تحركت حكومة السند للاستحواذ على الموقع لمنع بناء أبراج شاهقة، مقترحةً بدلاً من ذلك إنشاء حديقة عامة. ^{[ ٧ ]} وفي فبراير ٢٠٢٠، علّقت محكمة السند العليا أمر الهدم. ^{[ ٨ ]}

اعتبارًا من مارس 2025، كان بناء صالة عرض تجارية من قبل شركة ميجا كونجلوميريت جاريًا في الموقع. ^{[ 9 ]}