Hotel Omayad Palace in Damascus

Notes

Hotel Omayad Palace (currently renamed Omar Khayyam) was built in 1932 on top of an existing floor, which spared the owner the cost of new foundations. The owner wanted to maximize the revenue generated from the building’s operation; accordingly, commercial stores, restaurants, and their central kitchen were placed on the ground floor with the hotel’s lobby set on the floor above. A remarkable U-shaped staircase links the different floors together. The existing structure forced the architect to place bathroom units on the façade, thus losing potential rooms and openings. On the other hand, to minimize the false ceiling cost, sanitary pipes were installed parallel to the beams and then concealed with plaster.

Sources

Igor Pitlenko, Annuaire d'archietcture de Syrie et du Liban [Taqweem Fan Al-bina' fi Souriyya wa Lubnan], 1934, p. 107-111.

Current owner, Mohammad Abdel-Qader Al-Zouzou

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