The Old Courtyard ,Fort Kochi

The Courtyard House is situated in one of the beautiful alleys of Fort Kochi. Its Just a walkable distance from the sea side. This "piece of History"is beautiful and magnanimous.

What we craved on that rainy day was some hot tea and french fries.So that was the perfect setting on a rainy day.."the old courtyard and rain."Surrounded by the mango tree,the courtyard,the serene white balmy rooms,the wooden flooring,the old switches ,the blue tile skirting all added to its grandeur.A pleasure to be there in the rains always.

A little history too.....

The Old Courtyard Hotel was known as Lily Koder’s house. The eminent Koder family of Fort Cochin, who were Jews.

The house was built for Lily Koder’s brother, but unfortunately he did not live long to occupy the house. And since Lily Koder was unmarried, she lived in that house with some nephews. When the nephews migrated to Israel, she lived there alone. Her brother lived in the Koder House which was connected to her house by the shop next door and by a bridge over the road. She used to spend time and eat at her brother’s house. Lily Koder was well known among her colleagues and in the society and the young girls used to go to her to learn bridge and French. She died in the early 90’s and the house was left abandoned until it was bought over in 1999.

Jacob and Rose Kuruvinakunnel found Lily Koder’s house the perfect setting to start their own hotel. The old mango tree in the center of the courtyard was the clincher. Being a graduate of Ecole Les Roches, Cran Montana, Switzerland, it was their dream to find a place they could transform to a small and intimate hotel.

With Jacob’s love for antique furniture, he searched all over to find the kind of furniture he envisioned to fill the place. Thus, he created rooms in the colonial style of four poster beds, intricate cupboards, tables, lion face, 5 headed elephant and other unusual pieces. His love of art enabled him to collect original art work and paintings which are show cased in the Old Courtyard Restaurant and rooms.(text credit here)