Thread for some ‘upscale’ traditional architectural styles from the Lower Guinea area of western Africa. (Lower Guinea is the biogeographical area between southern Ghana and southern Nigeria).

Mansion in Kumasi, Ashanti Empire, late 19th century. Photo: Friedrich Ramseyer.

Entrance gate and walls with relief of a famers compound at Nnewi, northern Igbo area, Southern Nigeria, 1938. Photo: Edward Duckworth. Pitt Rivers Museum.

Traditional priests house, Kumasi, Ashanti Empire, turn of the 20th century. Photo: Friedrich Ramseyer.

Scaled-down version of a tower with a brass snake and bird that adorned the Oba’s palace in Benin City before the 19th century. Nigeria, 1988. Joseph Nevadomsky.

Dahomey (modern Benin) - The ruins of royal apartments at the King's Palace destroyed by cannonballs at Abomey.

Chief Ogbua’s house. Entrance portice seen from within. Onitsha, Nigeria, Mid-20th century. Photo: Zbigniew Dmochowski.

Relief figures adorned with leopards from an old and now demolished building. Benin City, Southern Nigeria, 1936. Photo: Eckart von Sydow.

'Palaver hall' (court?) in Kumasi, Ashanti Empire, turn of the 20th century. Photo: Friedrich Ramseyer.

A building part and parcel of a Chief’s Palace in Benin City. A courtyard in a Chief’s Palace photographed in 1897 [after Benin was burnt down by Britain] by R. K. Granvile. decorated with horizontal ridge designs (Agben).

Portal to an Igbo compound with wooden carved door/gate and relief figures in earth. Northern Igbo. Photo: J Stocker, early 20th century. British Museum.

Ruins part of a palace, Abomey, Dahomey, present day Republic of Benin, around turn of the 20th century.

Ruins of Simbodji Palace, Abomey, Dahomey, c. 1894.

Timbuktu, Mali (outside of the area of scope).

Timbuktu, Mali (outside of the area of scope).

A street in Kano, Nigeria. Photo by Gustaf Bolinder, 1930-31. (outside of the area of scope).

Ruins part of the palace of Béhanzin, the last independent reigning king of Dahomey, Abomey, Dahomey, present day Republic of Benin, around turn of the 20th century.

"Carved wooden door, Nri-Awka [Igbo], forming gateway into walled compound." G. I. Jones, 1930s.

Urata-Igbo Mbari votive shrine. Photo: Edward Chadwick, 1927-1943. British Museum.

Some citizens of Benin City in front of a building from the royal quarter after the destruction of Benin by Britain. Turn of 20th century. British Museum.

A European illustration of Benin City, 1730s, via Thomas Astley.

Building in Foumban, the capital of the Bamum kingdom, Cameroon, early 20th century.

A house in Djenné, Mali with a Toucouleur–style facade, 1906 (outside of the area of scope).

European illustration of the exterior of bedroom of a notable of the Ashanti Empire, from Mission from Cape Coast Castle to Ashantee... (1819) by Thomas E. Bowdich.

One of the carved doors to the king's compound in Benin City, ruined after the looting and burning of Benin by the British, c. 1897-1898. Pitt Rivers Museum.

... Brass keys used to open large palace doors, the cross design is rooted in Benin spirituality and represents the crossroads of the earth. Looted 1897, British Museum.

... (The walls of Benin City were known for their fluting which, in addition to being decorative, helped cut down heat by having much of the area of walls shaded.)

Houses in Foumban, the capital of the Bamum kingdom, Cameroon, first half of the 20th century.

Ekpe (leopard society) club-house, Bende, in Abia State, Nigeria today. Percy Amaury Talbot, 1910s.

Bamileke house, Cameroon.

The iba of Chief Akunwafor Ogbua, studied in March 1961 by Zbigniew R. Dmochowski and local team, Onitsha.

The front of the iba of Chief Akunwafor Ogbua, studied in March 1961 by Zbigniew R. Dmochowski and local team, Onitsha.

Isometric drawing of the iba of Chief Akunwafor Ogbua, studied in March 1961 by Zbigniew R. Dmochowski and local team, Onitsha.

"8 Nov 1905. Awkopp. Circular [Ibibio] “Eken” House." Charles Partridge.

"The entrance to the compound of traditional uli artist Mgbadunwa Okanumme, who decorated her walls for the Asha Olu festival [also known as Afia Olu, a festival usually dedicated to the agricultural divinity Ifejioku]. Nnobi, [northern Igbo area] December 1986." – Liz Willis.

The wall of the Oba of Benin's palace in 1897 after it had been ransacked and Benin City burnt down, the British looters were camped inside here after the Oba had been exiled. Pitt Rivers Museum.

Some of the old buildings at Kumasi (Kumasi was burnt down by British forces and abandoned by the Ashanti afterward). Friedrich Ramseyer, c. 1896. BMArchives.

A street in Kumasi, the capital of the Ashanti Empire, from Mission from Cape Coast Castle to Ashantee... (1819) by Thomas E. Bowdich.

"Part of a Piazza in the palace" of Kumasi, the capital of the Ashanti Empire, from Mission from Cape Coast Castle to Ashantee... (1819) by Thomas E. Bowdich.

Compound entrance and walls, Igbo area. Gustaf Bolinder, 1930-1.

A view of the city of Benin, Nigeria, West Africa, 1846, Mary Evans.

An entrance in a compound in Nimo, p.d. Anambra State. Photographed by Northcote Thomas, 1910-11.

"Le temple de la rivière Awshun [The temple of the river Osun]," (in Nigeria) early 20th century. Musée du quai Branly.

An entrance in a compound in Agukwu Nri. Photographed by Northcote Thomas, 1910-11.

Ubiaja [Esan]. Photographed by Northcote Thomas, 1909.

An entrance of a compound in Agukwu Nri. Photographed by Northcote Thomas, 1911.

Enuani Igbo house, Onicha Olona, photographed by Northcote Thomas, 1912. MAA Cambridge.

Illustration of the sacred 'forbidden' inner chamber of an Mbari house in the Urata-Echie Igbo area (Imo and Rivers today) by P. A. Talbot in "Some Nigerian Fertility Cults," 1927. The chamber, which holds the chi of the Mbari's main deity, is guarded by two female divinities.

An Edo house photographed by Northcote Thomas, c. 1909-10.

An Asante nobleman and inner courtyard of a house in Abetifi (Ghana). Friedrich Ramseyer, c. 1896. BMArchives.

The entrance to the royal palace at Kumasi (Ghana). Friedrich Ramseyer, c. 1896. BMArchives.

Ubiaja [Esan]. Photographed by Northcote Thomas, 1909.

An entrance to a compound in Agukwu Nri (Anambra). Photographed by Northcote Thomas, 1910-11.

Urata-Igbo Mbari votive shrine. Photo: Edward Chadwick, 1927-1943. British Museum.

"Sliding door (front view and cross section)." In the Ejagham area in the Cross River Nigeria-Cameroon border area today. Alfred Mansfeld, 1908.

The Bamum king's palace at Fumban, Bamum country, c. 1931.

An mbari, a votive shrine built by communities of the Urata Igbo, photographed by P. Talbot around or before the mid-1920s.

Interior of an Ekpe society house in Bende photographed by P. Talbot around or before the mid-1920s.

An indigenously made suspension bridge by the Ejagham people of today's Cross River State and Southwest Cameroon. Photo via P. Amaury Talbot in "In the Shadow of the Bush" 1912.

"Carved door, Owo Ekiti, Yoruba" – P. Amaury Talbot, c. 1920s.

The interior of a Chi shrine at Nkarahia in present day Rivers State with inset imported plates and bottles. P. Amaury Talbot, 1910s.

"A house at Benin" – P. Amaury Talbot, c. 1920s.

Altar in the city of Benin, Henry Ling Roth "Great Benin" 1903.

A building photographed in the western Igbo area, filed under Onicha Olona by the MAA Cambridge, but may be another surrounding Igbo town. The trees and shrubs appear to have been planted in an order. Photographed by Northcote Thomas and assistants, c. 1912-13.

A decorated wall [of a house?] at Ila [Illah], in the western Igbo area, photographed by British colonial government anthropologist Northcote Thomas, October-November 1912. MAA, Cambridge.

Onicha Olona house, Enuani Igbo, photographed by British colonial government anthropologist Northcote Thomas, c. 1912. MAA Cambridge.

"A spirit worker painting the walls of an mbari nearing completion. Note the double Mami Wata images at left. Photo 1930s." - Herbert Cole, 1988. Urata Igbo area, around Owere.

A doorway photographed at Agukwu Nri, present-day Anambra State, by Northcote Thomas, c. 1910-11. MAA Cambridge.