Building Ouzonnian

Notes

The building is a mixed-use urban piece on Talaat Harb Street in downtown Cairo. Originally named Suleiman Basha until 1954, the street is representative of the large avenues planned in the second half of the 19th century as part of the “European city” with buildings representing the successive directions taken by architecture. While foreign architects designed the early buildings lining the street in neoclassical style, the Ouzonnian Building was designed by Sayed Karim, a leading Egyptian figure who eagerly promoted local modern architecture in his publication Al-Imara.
The main façade of the Ouzonnian Building displays a straightforward expression of the various functions that it houses. Shops on the busy commercial street are topped with a restaurant, tea-room and dance hall that gives to a back garden. The base is surmounted with seven floors of offices and apartments, then a four-story hotel with receptions above offering a view over the city. A penthouse located on the last two floors crowns the building (George Arbid).

Sources

Majallat Al-Imara, vol. 2-4, 1952.

George Arbid, Heritage of Urban and architectural modernities in the Arab world, Kuwait: Unesco World Heritage Center and Arab Center for Architecture, 2015, pp. 14-15

Mohamed El Shahed

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