The British invasion of the ancient Kingdom of Benin in 1897 purportedly carried out to avenge the death of Captain Philips and six other members of his team left the ancient city of Benin in ruins.

Besides the magnificent Palace of Oba Ovonramwen N' Gbasi which was completely razed down, the British troops looted the enviable cultural artifacts in the palace that has now adored many famous museums all over Europe and America.

That invasion also saw the torching of homes belonging to many prominent palaces Chiefs and private citizens after cultural objects and artifacts were stolen. But however, out of that ruins of the ancient city of Benin emerged the first storey building in that historical city. A Palace Chief, Chief Iyamu Osawe, who was then the Inneh of Benin showed a quick recovery of that invasion when in 1906, he erected the first storey building in the city, called in the Bini language, EGEDEGE N' OKAO.

Egedege N' Okao (The Storey Building Number One) is one hundred years old and is situated at No. 3, Erie Street, Off Sokponba Road, Benin City. The monumental building is a reposite of the richness of the ideational and material culture of the Benin people.

One hundred years after it was built, the building has remains strong and immovable. That the building has survived the test of time, a century of vicissitudes, scorching sun, corrosive weather, destructive pests particularly termites and the catastrophic rain storms, is a testimony to the architectural mastery of the Bini masons, craftsmanship and the quality of the traditional building materials.

Built from furnace - fired red bricks, expensive steely iroko and mahogany woods used for the decking, railings and roofing. This first storey building which was erected to last for centuries, has remains strong, firm and un-dwarfed by modem building technology. Evidently, the caved door lintels, arched windows, rugged beams, panes and the aesthetic tastes are evidence of the royal class of the owner of the building, Chief Iyamu Osawe, a then very influential chief of Benin Kingdom.

Beside, proving wrong the racist theory of the whites that the black man lived next to apes on forest tree, the erection of the building shows also that indeed there were rich men in the kingdom who held their heads high despite the ruins and destruction and who could pay a white architect to design and supervise such a building of such magnificence in those early years after the invasion.

Chief Iyamu Osawe was obviously a rich man to be able to employ a British colonial officer, Mr. Crawe Reade who designed and supervise the building of the first private residential storey building in the ancient city of Benin that has survived the past one hundred years.

A guided tour of the Egedege N' Okao recently by members of the Centenary Celebration Committee of the edifice led by Mr. Oronsaye revealed that the main storey building has on the ground floor, six huge Roman columns, a major parlour with four specious adjourning rooms. This was replicated upstairs linked to the ground floor by wooden staircase still strong enough to tantalize a modem concrete or the latest American wooden house.

Behind the building is a courtyard facing adjourning apartments for the Chief's harem and other family members. And adjacent the Egedege N' Okao is an older building said to be more than 200 years old before the erection of the first storey building. In this older building are ancient edifices, cultural artifacts, shrines owned by the chief and his succession of lineage's.

According to Mr. Oronsaye, Chief, Chief Iyamu Osawe's first traditional home reveal an ALTER OF ACHIEVERS and a hall of rituals which indicate faithful harmonization of the spiritual and material in the home of the rich.

Egedege N' okao is 100 years old this year! Yet, it has the height of any of today's one storey building. It also has the dimension of 48ft by 30ft and near bulletproofs mud-walls.

Certainly, its builders were adept masons who had their arts well articulated and executed it with decisive competence, thus ensuring durability and excellence that indeed characterized craftsmanship in those good days.

A peep into the history of Benin Architecture reveals that the dexterity of the natives had been demonstrated in the construction of the Oba's Palace, which the British invaders destroyed. An ancient Benin builder OSUMA described how 10 iroko pillars were used to support the Ikpatako heavy roof of the Palace. Indeed, the best woodworkers, builders, masons, even medicine men were assembled in those days to build palatial structures with the finest of all the materials there are.

The materials used by those who built Egedege N' okao were 90% locally source compared to an equivalent storey building of today. If Egedege N' okao built in 1906 could last 100 years and holds the prospect of another century, there is a lesson or two to learn by everyone who believe in looking inwards for cultural and economic emancipation and self-reliance.

The gongs, drums and rattling should be mobilized in celebration of Bini cultural resilience, creativity and building technology, on this occasion of the 100 years of the first storey building in the ancient city of Benin which comes up on 29, September, 2006.

However, the Ize- Iyamu family have appealed to the National Commission of Museums to take over the building and recognize it as a National Monument as it has done to other buildings of this status in the country. They also noted that the Egedege N' okao is the third storey building in Nigeria beside that of Calabar and the one in Badagry, Lagos State, constructed by the early Christian Missionaries in Nigeria.