Qualla: Edward J. Roye Building: The Skyscraper That Outlived Its Party

Edward J. Roye Building: The Skyscraper That Outlived Its Party: Introduction

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

There is a building on Ashmun Street in Monrovia that refuses to fall down. The Edward J. Roye Building -- ten stories of reinforced concrete, with shattered stained glass above its entrance and sculpted panels by Liberian artist Vahnjah Richards still embedded in its facade -- has stood empty for decades. Built as the headquarters of the True Whig Party, which ruled Liberia without interruption from 1878 to 1980, the tower was the physical embodiment of a century-long political dynasty. When that dynasty ended in a bloody coup, the building lost its purpose but kept its place on the skyline.

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Edward J. Roye Building: The Skyscraper That Outlived Its Party: A Party's Monument to Itself

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The True Whig Party constructed its headquarters in the 1960s and renamed it the E.J. Roye Memorial Building in 1964, honoring Edward James Roye, the True Whig Party's first member to serve as president of Liberia. Roye's story is itself a remarkable arc: born in Newark, Ohio in ...

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Edward J. Roye Building: The Skyscraper That Outlived Its Party: A Century of Unchallenged Rule

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

To understand the Roye Building, you have to understand the True Whig Party. From 1878 until the 1980 coup, the TWP governed Liberia as a de facto one-party state, its power rooted in the Americo-Liberian elite -- descendants of the freed American slaves who founded the country. ...

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Edward J. Roye Building: The Skyscraper That Outlived Its Party: The Morning Everything Changed

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

On April 12, 1980, Master Sergeant Samuel Doe led a group of indigenous Liberian soldiers into the Executive Mansion, killed President Tolbert, and ended over a century of Americo-Liberian political dominance. The True Whig Party's reign was over. Its headquarters on Ashmun Stree...

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Edward J. Roye Building: The Skyscraper That Outlived Its Party: Still Standing, Still Contested

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

By 2013, the Liberian government closed the building for construction, recognizing its ruined state demanded intervention. But even this act proved contentious. Leaders of the rump True Whig Party -- which still technically exists -- filed suit, claiming they remained the rightfu...

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