Sofaer & Co

“The Sofaer building was once one of the swankiest department stores in Rangoon. A century ago in Kipling’s poem, ‘Mandalay’ was beckoning the overheated imaginations of a generation of young Englishmen. Here you could buy fine Egyptian cigarettes, French liqueurs. The floor tiles were shipped over from Manchester. Now people live here. A half-century of a pariah state has left very few of these buildings in good repair. And there are divergent views on whether to preserve them. For many, a reminder of colonial subjugation; for others, vestige of a golden time.”