Ezekiel House is one of the most significant surviving residences on Synagogue Lane, originally built as an ancient house belonging to the Cochini Jews and now thoughtfully restored and repurposed as a boutique tourist residence and café. For generations, it was associated with the Rahabi family, whose influence extended far beyond Kochi. At a time when the Malabar Coast sat at the centre of the global spice trade, the Rahabis were among the region’s most powerful merchants, trusted by local rulers and the Dutch East India Company alike.

The family’s most prominent figure, Ezekiel Rahabi, arrived from a Syrian Jewish lineage that settled in Kochi in the seventeenth century. As Chief Merchant and Agent to the Dutch East India Company, he was a prominent member of the Paradesi Jewish community who traded extensively on Dutch ships with China, dealing principally in pepper sourced from the Malabar coast and opium sourced from Central India.

Beyond commerce, Rahabi acted as the crucial diplomatic interlocutor between foreign empires and native states. It was within this very residence, now Ezekiel House, where the meetings took place between the representatives of the Dutch East India Company and the representatives of the Travancore and Kochi Kingdoms.

His enduring influence can still be seen across the neighborhood architecture today. In 1758, Rahabi donated the famed, hand-painted Chinese floor tiles that the Paradesi Synagogue is famed for. He also commissioned the adjacent clock tower, donating its distinct three-faced dial system featuring Hebrew, Latin, and Malayalam scripts to serve the port’s diverse populations.

Over time, the house evolved with the neighbourhood around it. What began as a family residence later became a series of commercial spaces as the Jewish community gradually left Kochi during the twentieth century. The recent restoration carefully reversed those changes, uncovering the original structure beneath decades of alterations while preserving its residential character.

Today, Ezekiel House offers six guest rooms and a ground-floor café within a building that remains deeply connected to the history of the lane. Original timber beams, high ceilings, wooden floors, and thoughtfully restored details create a stay that feels less like visiting a historic site and more like living within it.