Henry William Ssentoogo was born in Bukuumi (now Buyaga), Kibaale, western Uganda, on 27 September 1936. In c.1950s, he secured a scholarship to study Architectural Design at the Polytechnic of Central London (PCL) followed by postgraduate studies at University College London. He successfully graduated from UCL and became a Member of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). Returning to Uganda, Ssentoogo became a pioneering and influential post-colonial modernist architect who reshaped the country's urban planning and city skylines. He was founding president of the African Union of Architects (AUA), a member of the Uganda Society of Architects (USA), and a member of the Royal Town Planning Institute UK. Henry William Ssentoogo died in Lubowa, Uganda, on 21 August 2023.
Architect and urban planner, Henry William Ssentoogo was born to supportive and aspiring parents, Dorotia Bukirwa and Silvanos Kapalaga, in Bukuumi, now Buyaga, Kibaale, western Uganda, on 27 September 1936. His primary education took place at Bukuumi Boys Primary School, followed by further education at St. Edward's Secondary School (Kituuka, 2023, np), both established by Catholic missionaries under British colonial administration. Ssentoogo later attended St. John's Secondary School, a boarding school in Nandere, Eastern Uganda, before pursuing higher education at St. Mary's College in Kisubi, in the central region of Uganda (Kituuka, 2023, np). Ssentoogo was bright and hardworking; St Mary's College, a private Catholic boarding school, required its students to be high achievers and to have exceptional academic attainment. While there, Ssentoogo developed his creative abilities through drawing and design classes, held alongside his academic studies, where he excelled in the sciences. Ssentoogo subsequently secured a scholarship in architecture, leaving Uganda in the early 1950s to study in Nairobi at the Royal Technical College of East Africa, now the University of Nairobi (UoN). At RTC, Ssentoogo began his foundation training in architecture, with an emphasis on technical drawing; however, he experienced overt racism and hostile discrimination from the European and South Asian academics and his fellow cohort (Mazinga, 2008, online). In a highly segregated society under British colonial rule, Africans were considered intellectually and socially inferior; nevertheless, Ssentoogo successfully graduated from RTC and later secured a government scholarship to specialise in architecture overseas.
In the mid- to late 1950s, Ssentoogo moved to London, England, to study Architectural Design at the Polytechnic of Central London (PCL), Regent Street, now the University of Westminster (UoW). Ssentoogo followed rigorous curirculum at PCL, where his fellow students included the acclaimed British-Jewish architect Tom Kay, designer of the El AL building in Tel Aviv, Israel (Davey and Campbell, 2008, np). After graduating from PCL, Ssentoogo's further postgraduate studies at University College London (UCL) focused on town and country planning. After graduating from UCL and becoming a Member of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), Ssentogo worked as a graduate engineer and gained experience with various English architectural firms; he subsequently served as a principal planner for Liverpool City Council. (LCC). Ssentoogo's involvement in planning at LCC occurred during a period of intense modernisation and renovation across the city, following wartime damage and the postwar government's focus on improving neglected inner-city areas, as architects moved away from traditional designs, embracing a more modern and innovative approach to urban planning.
Ssentoogo returned to Kampala, Uganda, in c.1965 and was eventually appointed Chief Architect and Planner for Kampala City Council. In the c.1970s, Ssentoogo was involved in developing Uganda's National Housing Policy (Nnaggenda-Musana, 2008, p. 25) and also set up his own practice, Ssentoogo & Partners, Architects and Planning Consultants (Kituuka, 2023, np), constructing and modernising public and commercial buildings in Kampala and Entebbe, notably the State House in Entebbe, the extension and renovation of Entebbe Airport, Bank of Uganda headquarters, the interior of Mapeera House, the Sheraton Kampala Hotel and the Buildings of Parliament. Ssentoogo was founding president of the African Union of Architects (AUA), Vice President of the Commonwealth Association of Architects (CAA), a member of the Uganda Society of Architects (USA), and the Architectural Association of Kenya (AAK), with collaborative connections through shared East African initiatives. Ssentoogo was also a member of the Royal Town Planning Institute UK.
Henry William Ssentoogo died in Lubowa, Uganda, on 21 August 2023, a pioneering Ugandan architect who reshaped the country's urban planning and city skylines. His work is not represented in the UK public domain.
Joy Onyejiako.
Consult items in the Ben Uri archive related to [Henry Ssentoogo]
Publications related to [Henry Ssentoogo] in the Ben Uri Library