1840-1940:genesis of modern architecture in beirut

The rise of Beirut as a major commercialport goes back to the eighteenth centurycoastal revival initiated by steamshipnavigation that triggered a shift in theeconomic activity from inland caravan citieslike Damascus to coastal cities. Theestablishment of Beirut as the capital ofvilayet Sidon in 1832 under the Egyptianoccupa t ion , a t t rac ted consu la rrepresentation and foreign traders.However, it is between 1840 and 1864 thatBeirut underwent the most importantchanges that constituted the turning-pointin its modern history. On the one hand,the establishment of the French-controlledOttoman Bank in 1850, the low importduties, the building of the wharf, and theconstruction of the Beirut-Damascus cross-mountain road opened Beirut to theSyrian/Arabian interior and made it theprincipal entrepôt of the region. On theother hand, the massive migration ofMaronites from the mixed Druze districtsin Mount Lebanon and the Greek Orthodoxinflux from Damascus and Aleppo,following the 1845 and 1860 sectarianupheavals, resulted in the increase ofBeirut’s population between 1840 and 1880from 10,000 to 80,000 in less than threedecades.

The First Phase of ModernizationAccordingly, Beirut outgrew its walls andexpanded over its immediate surroundingsleading to the creation of the first gardensuburbs in the periphery of the old city. By1876 city size increased 13 times (fig. 1,2).The immediate periphery got urbanizedand a second suburban belt emerged withexclusive residential quarters. This urban

expansion was mainly the result of themigration of the urban bourgeoisie outsidethe walled city and the settling of ruralmigrants on the outskirts. The newresidential townscape consisted of threehousing types: upper-class mansions (Fig.3, foreground), flat-roofed farmhouses withsurrounding gardens, referred to as tarzal chami or Damascene type (Fig. 3, middleground), and cubic stone structures withred ti le roofs showing the strongemergence of a new building type: thebourgeois central hall house with its triplearch and corbelled marble balcony (Fig.3,background). In his “Geographie de laSyrie Centrale”, Richard Thoumin calls thishouse la maison moderne Libanaise orthe modern Lebanese house (fig. 4), alsola maison citadine or the town house(Thoumin 1936, 294- 295). In a map basedon his 1920s survey, he shows the spreadof this new type from Beirut to the mountainand other coastal settlements (fig. 5).Thoumin comments:“Le mouvement a donc pris naissance àBeyrouth, puis il s’est étendu a l’arrière-pays. Il s’explique par une double influence:le climat et l’Occidentalisation. Si l’onprenait soin, a l’automne, de damer et derouler la terrasse, celle-ci ne tardait pas ase transformer en écumoire…Le citadinvoulut une demeure plus confortable où ilfut a l’abri des cascades tombant duplafond, même s’il oubliait de rouler lacouverture.Des Libanais étaient allés en France, yavaient vu les toits de tuiles et leursavantages. Il y a quelque cinquante ans,renoncer à la terrasse signifiait à la foisune certaine fortune et le desir de copierl’Occident. Dans ces conditions, le point

Robert Saliba

1840-1940:Genesis of Modern Architecture in Beirut

Robert Saliba: Architect and urban planner, Beirut;doctoral candidate at Oxford Brookes University,UK

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Fig.1 Beirut 1841. Source:Davie, Michael Fig.2 Beirut 1876. Source: Löytved

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de départ de cette mode ne pouvait êtreque Beyrouth.”Hors de Beyrouth, avoir une maison àtoit rouge fut un signe de supériorité. Vers1905, des émigrés qui s’en étaient alléfaire fortune aux Etats-Unis commencèrentà revenir au Liban. Dès leur arrivée leurpremier soin fut de construire selon lamode nouvelle…

“Therefore, this movement started fromBeirut, than extended to the hinterland. Itmay be explained by a double influence:climate and Occidentalisation. If theterrace [the flat earth roof] was not packedand rolled during autumn, it wastransformed soon into a skimmer… Thetown dweller wanted a more comfortableresidence where he was protected from

Fig.3 Beirut residential suburbs 1885. Source: Dumas in

Debbas, 1986, P.150Fig.4 Traditional and modern Lebanese house according

to Thoumin. Source: Thoumin 1936, p. 293, 294

Above, plan and elevation of the traditional liwan house

in the mountain region; below, plan of the modern central

hall house in Beirut.

Fig.5 Spread of the red tile roof house (based on a 1920s

survey). Source: Thoumin 1936


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the cascades falling from the roof, even ifhe forgot to roll his terrace.Some Lebanese traveled to France, andsaw the tiles and their advantages. Fiftyyears ago, giving away the terrace roofexpressed both wealth and a desire tocopy the Occident…Outside Beirut, having a house with redtile roof was a sign of superiority. Around1905, migrants who went to the UnitedStates to get rich, started coming back.Upon their arrival, their first concern wasto build according to the new fashion.”Can the central hall house qualify as lamaison moderne Libanaise, knowing thatLebanon did not exist yet as a politicalentity during the second half of thenineteenth century when this typeemerged? On the other hand, was thecentral hall house an original Beiruticreation or an imported model readaptedto local conditions? Finally, did it possessthe enduring and intrinsic qualities of avernacular model that emerges from acollective vision, and a long-termexperience of local tradesmen with localmaterials?The central hall house that we celebratetoday as our national icon, the source ofour architectural identity, and our traditionalbuilding type par excellence, is a hybridsuburban structure resulting from theintegration of wrought iron I-beams androof tiles from France, mechanically sawntimber from Romania, cast iron balustradesand hardware from England, and marbletiles from Italy. Other than the bearingwalls built from local sandstone, themajority of materials used are machine-age construction materials imported fromEurope with the expansion of colonialtrade during the second half the 19thcentury. The triple arch, the mostdistinguishing feature of the new type, isconsidered to be a Venetian import. Noconclusive evidence is yet advanced onthe origin of the central hall itself as anorganizational spatial and planning device(Davie and Nordiguian, 1987). Finally, theextroverted nature of the new suburban

Fig.6 (1,2,3,4 -a,b,c) Central hall house: suburba- facade

typology. Source: Saliba 1998, p. 44, 45

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type as a free standing structure exhibitingitself to the street with its ornamentedfaçade is interpreted as reflecting thedesire of an emerging merchant class,conducting trade with Europe, andemulating western lifestyles and adoptingimported materials and detailing as asymbol of status (Sehnaoui 1981).Irrespective of the above, the central hall/ triple-arch / red-tile roof house proved tobe a creative synthesis of Westernimported materials and local know how.Although its origin, originality, andcontinuity with past traditions are yetunresolved research issues, its diffusionand its adoption by different social groups,prove that it possessed the inner attributesof a traditional vernacular model, i.e.:· Its common representation andunderstanding by owner and buildermaking it a spontaneous reference model· Its additive qualities and internalcohesiveness, since, as explained below,it was able to incorporate changes that“would have destroyed visually and

conceptually a high style design”, to quoteRapoport in his qualification of pre-industrial vernacular models (Rapoport1969).Different types of central bay elevationsdeveloped according to the wealth, socialstanding, and lifestyle of owners. Thesupra-vernacular elevation or kasr (fig.6a) pertained to the aristocratic mansion;the high and mainstream vernacularelevation or hara (fig. 6b) to the familyresidence of the emerging bourgeoisie;and the lower vernacular elevation or bayt(fig. 6c) to the garden suburban houseand to the farmhouse. Such structures stillexist in the middle of high-rise apartmentbuildings in Achrafieh and Ras Beirut.Although the three types of elevationsshared the central bay as a commonfeature, they differed in the level of façadearticulation, the amount and type ofornamentation, and the use of importedmaterials of construction:· The aristocratic mansions usuallyexhibited a dignified and ostentatious

Fig.7 Beirut 1921. Source: Service Geographique

de l’Armée, 1921


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Fig.8 (5,6,7,8-a,b,c-d,e) Central hall house: urban facade

typology. Source: Saliba 1996, p. 48, 49

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a) Petit Serailb) le Grand Serail with clock tower.

Fig.10 (a,b) Ottoman style monumental architecture.

Source: Debbas (p. 73, 97)


raised entrance with an elaboratestaircase, a recessed or protruding centralbay, and highly ornate surface detailing(fig. 6.1). Designers were mostly Italians,and styles were an eclectic mix of Gothic,Renaissance, and Islamic.· High bourgeois and mainstreamresidences used ornamentation selectively;they consisted of one to three floors,housing a single apartment per floor withseparate entrance staircase for each level(fig 6.2). They relied on the know how ofmaster builders and copied aristocraticmansions.· Finally, the flat roof suburban house andthe farmhouse were characterized by asimple elevation incorporating sometimesa diagrammatic central bay with small andunadorned window openings (fig. 6.3,4).They lacked aesthetic pretensions andwere executed by craftsmen who followedthe conventional ways of building.With the continuing urban growth and the

continuous urbanization of the periphery(fig. 7), suburban residential types in thecity either declined or underwent a processof change to adapt to the new functionalconstraints and siting conditions. Theytransformed into two main types:·Luxury and upper cost apartment houses,or stacked villas (fig. 8.a).Middle-cost apartment houses with aground floor of shops and rentalapartments above, clearly expressing thebirth of a new residential type: thespeculative apartment building (fig. 8.b).Such buildings extended vertically as high-rise walk-ups (fig. 8.c), or horizontally astwin structures either separate or integratedunder one roof (fig. 8.e,f,g). Such buildingswere concentrated along importantarteries, like rue Gouraud, rue Basta, andrue Bliss, and in the highly dense peri-center districts.In summary, the first phase of earlymodernization produced a new vernacular

Fig.9 (a,b) Non residential red tile roof buildings. Source:

Saliba 1996, p. 48, 49

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10 b)

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(a) Imperial Ottoman Bank

(b ) Orosdi Bek department store

(c) Eglise des Capucins

Fig.11(a,b,c) Western eclectic monumental architecture.

Source: Debbas (p. 32, 34, 98)

model, the central-hall house, thatpossessed the intrinsic qualities of atraditional type, while showing enoughflexibility to adapt to the different socialclasses and various locations and parcelconfigurations. It shaped itself tourbanization constraints without loosing itsinner cohesiveness, and incorporatedstylistic impositions without loosing itsdistinguished visual character. The questionremains: How far the central hall buildingwas able to sustain the pressures inducedby the second phase o f ear lymodernization, i.e., the intrusion of concretein building construction and the emergenceof architects and engineers as a new breedof design professionals competing with thetraditional master builder?Before answering this question, it ispertinent to give a brief overview of publicbuildings of the same period, in order tocheck possible connections and overlapsbetween domestic and non-domesticarchitecture on one hand, and vernacularand high style architecture on the otherhand.

Non residential architecture andurbanismThe central hall / red tile roof building wasnot only used in domestic architecture; itserved as a reference model for newbuilding types such as hotels or mixed-use buildings in the expanding Beirut’scentral district (fig. 9a,b). It also

accommodated the first office buildingsalong the waterfront and in the port district.Monumental architecture of the lateOttoman period was confined to a smallnumber of key buildings pertaining to twobroad stylistic categories:The Official Ottoman style illustrated bythe infantry barracks (le Grand Serail), the1900 clock tower, and the Petit Serail (fig.10a,b)

Late 19th century Europeaneclecticism as illustrated by the ImperialOttoman Bank, the Orosdi Bek Departmentstore and the Eglise des Capucins. (fig.11a,b,c)It is clear that monumental architecturewas in advance of domestic architecturein introducing the latest stylistic trends andbuilding materials and techniques usingwes te rn and wes te rn -educa tedprofessional designers. Missionary schoolslike the Ecole des Frères du Sacré-Coeur(1894) were already built in concrete atthe end of the 19th century, while OrosdiBek department store (1900) introducedthe first elevator in Beirut. It will take aroundtwo to three decades for such trends totrickle down to mainstream domesticarchitecture.Modern urbanism was introduced in Beirutas early as 1878, when the Municipalityratified a project for the modernization ofthe infrastructure and the upgrading ofpublic amenities following the rules ofhygiene and embellishment set by Istanbul.By the first decade of the century, the cityacquired its electric factory, its train station

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Destroyed Areas to be replaced by geometric street

layout of Foch/ Allenby and the Etoile area

Fig.12. The razing of medieval Beirut, Source: Service

Geographic de l’Armee1921

a) consumption of cement between 1923 and 1940.b) construction permits delivered between 1919 – 1931.

Source: Plan Danger 1932

Fig.13. Introduction of concrete in building construction


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Fig.14 (a,b,c,d,e,f) From the triple arch to the rectangular

bay. Source: Saliba p.55

The impact of concrete on traditional forms of opening.

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Fig.15 (a,b,c) From apartment house to apartment building.

Source: Saliba p. 40, 41

and its tramway lines. Accordingly, the oldtown was perceived as a barrier tomovement between the port and itshinterland, and two openings were cutthrough the old fabric in 1915 (today’s RueFoch and Allenby), starting the secondphase of early modernization carriedthrough the French Mandate (fig. 12).

The Second Phase o f Ear lyModernizationThe most dramatic change in the buildingindustry occurred during the first quarterof the century, when cement was graduallyincorporated in domestic construction.Between 1923 and 1930, consumption ofimported cement increased about fivetimes in the Levant States of Lebanon andSyria (Fig. 13a), paralleled by a sharp risein construction permits (fig. 13b). The fastgrowth in cement imports stimulated thecreation of the first cement plant in theregion, the Société des Ciments Libanaisthat was established in 1929 through ajoint French / Lebanese private venture.This change was accompanied by atheoretical knowledge of reinforcedconcrete, formally introduced and taughtat the university- both at the AmericanUniversity of Beirut, and the Université St.

Joseph. Civil Engineering emerged for thefirst time as an independent professionand as a new field of specialization in asphere of practice previously confined toestablished building crafts. However, themalleability of concrete and its predilectionfor imitation, was soon appropriated bythe builders themselves as a “newvernacular” tradition, fostering thehybridization of architectural form and theproliferation of eclectic ornamentation.Concrete proved to be an economicalsubstitute for stone dressing and carving.Builders started emulating stoneworkthrough casting, using pattern books andtrade catalogs published in Europe andthe U.S., and spread as far as Australia.By looking at the variety of intermediateshapes that the central bay took in lessthan a decade, starting as a triple arcadeand ending as simple rectangular opening(Fig. 14), a clear idea may be formed aboutthe range of styles that pervaded centralhall buildings between mid 1920s and mid1930s.Beside stylistic variations, the central baygenerated two additional façade types:the veranda type and the bow windowtype. The first was created through theaddition of a concrete veranda, which soonbecame the predominant elevation feature

15 c)15 b)15 a)

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Fig.17. Foch-Allenby eclectic office buildings.Source: Solidere

Fig.16. The making of Place de l’Etoile. Source:Davie, M.

in its own right; and the second was aEuropean import (fig. 15).In brief, the second phase of earlymodernization resulted in a dualisticstructure, eclectic outside and traditionalinside, keeping the same symmetrical andcentralized plan while incorporating a widerange of styles in elevation, from neo-Classical to neo-Islamic, to Art Nouveauand Art Deco.Meanwhile, the old fabric of Beirut’s centraldistrict was being razed, to accommodatethe Foch-Allenby and the Place de l’Etoilescheme consisting of star-shaped andwide gallery-lined avenues (fig. 16). Astage-set approach was adopted basedon façade competitions as models forfuture buildings in both areas. Thetraditional central hall plan was replacedby an efficient office layout, while streetelevations were differentiated by diversestylistic treatment (fig. 17). The twosymbols of local power, the Parliamentand the Municipality expressed the dualnature of an ambiguous search for nationalidentity. The Parliament building (fig.18),designed by Mardiros Altounian, a Beaux-Arts architect, was an imposingsymmetrical structure with an Oriental-revivalist style articulating historicalregional references with neo-Mamlukovertones. The Municipality building (fig.19) designed by Yussef Bey Aftimos, anAmerican-educated engineer, is a clearexpression of the Neo-Islamic styledeveloped in Cairo by turn-of the centuryWestern and Western-educated architects.In 1930, two buildings were erectedsimultaneously: the Neo-Islamic GrandTheatre by Aftimos, and the modern-Perretstyle Hotel St.Georges by Antoine Tabet(fig. 20) showing the overlapping of twotendencies: the decline of eclecticism andthe penetration of early modernism. Thistransition period will end during the secondhalf of the 1930s signal ing theestablishment of modernism as thepredominant style in domestic and publicarchitecture for the rest of the century.

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Fig.19: The Municipality building. Source Daher, G.

Fig.18: The Parliament building. Source: Daher, G.

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Bibliography

·Davie, May and Nordiguian, Lévon."L'Habitat urbain de Bayrut al-Qadimat au19e siècle." in Berytus, vol. XXXV. Beirut:American University of Beirut, 1987. pp.165-197

·Davie, Michael. "Maps and the HistoricalTopography of Beirut." in Berytus, vol.XXXV. Beirut: American University ofBeirut, 1987.

·Daher, Gaby. Le Beyrouth des Années30. Beirut, 1994.

·Debbas, Fouad C. Beirut Our Memory;an Illustrated Tour in the Old City from1880 to 1930. Paris: Folios, 1986.

·El-Farra, Fouad. The Cement Industry inLebanon . Mas te r o f Bus inessAdministration thesis. Department ofBusiness Administration, AmericanUniversity of Beirut, Beirut 1969.

·Rapoport, Amos. House Form andCulture. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1969.

·Saliba, Robert. Beirut 1920-1940.Domestic Architecture between Traditionand Modernity. The Order of Engineersand Architects, Beirut: 1998.

·Sehnaoui, Nada. L’Occidentalisation dela Vie Quotidienne à Beyrouth: 1860-1914.Mémoire de Maîtrise. Université de ParisX – Nanterre, Paris: 1981.

·Thoumin, Richard. Géographie Humainede la Syire Centrale. Paris: Librairie ErnestLeroux, 1936.

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1840-1940:genesis of modern architecture in beirut

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