Mena House hotel, most historical place in Cairo, which was initially a hunting lodge; it was a two-story hut nicknamed the "Mud Hut". It was built in 1869 for the Egyptian Khedive Isma'il Pasha.Due to political matters in 1883, Isma'il sold the lodge to Frederick and Jessie Head as a private residence. The couple came across the building while on their honeymoon and once it was purchased they expanded it. In 1885, it was then sold to an English couple, Ethel and Hugh F. Locke King.The Locke Kings began construction on the hotel and opened it to the public in 1886 as The Mena House. The hotel is named after the founding father of the first Egyptian dynasty, Mena or King Menes. In 1890, the hotel opened Egypt’s first swimming pool and in that same year it was announced that the hotel would remain open year round. In 1920, 30 more rooms were added.Famous visitors include in 1889, Prince Albert of Wales, in 1894, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and his wife stayed there. In 1909, the future King George V and Queen Mary attended a banquet there. Circa 1914, Winston Churchill stayed at the hotel. In 1939, King Farouk of Egypt frequently visited. In 1974, President Richard Nixon visited.[3] Many members of state have also stayed there including; King Gustav of Sweden, King Umberto of Italy, Emperor of Ethiopia Haile Selassie and the English military commander Field Marshal Montgomery. The wing where Montgomery stayed still carries his name. Other notable people such as Agatha Christie, Ivan Trush (1912), Roger Moore, Cecil B. DeMille, Charlton Heston, Frank Sinatra, David Lean, Evelyn Waugh and Charlie Chaplin have all stayed at Mena House Oberoi.