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Today, I’m taking you on a journey through time, to a Beirut where life seemed so much better. Where people were beautiful in the way they treated one another, and Raoucheh was alive with hotels, modernist buildings, restaurants and the feeling that anything was possible. Let’s relive it through these photographs, at least for a moment. Some will make you smile. Others will bring us back to reality. Imagine a sunny day in Raoucheh in the 1960s… Start with a little breakfast, then walk past newly built apartment blocks, offices and hotels. Locals and tourists stroll along the seafront, shopkeepers greet their customers, and others hurry towards the beach. Perhaps we’ll spend the morning by the Carlton Hotel’s glamorous pool? For now, let’s forget that the hotel is long gone, its name carried on by Carlton Terraces, the residential development that replaced it. Lunch, anyone? We have plenty to choose from. Grills, mezze or seafood at Dbaibo or Yildizlar? Perhaps pasta or pizza at Bella Napoli? Prego, signore e signori! Or just a coffee or fresh juice at La Dolce Vita. Then we’ll pick up friends at the Majdalani and Reda buildings, with their distinctive modernist façades. Even an ordinary visit gives us a reason to admire the architecture. Back in the car, the Beatles, the Supremes, Manfred Mann and the Rolling Stones are playing as Joe Rihane introduces their latest hits on Radio Liban. Turn the dial to its Arabic service, and there’s Sabah, Wadih, Fairouz or Farid. Which station are we keeping? Reality check… Fast forward to today. So many of these places now exist only in photographs and in the memories of those who knew them. The Beatles went their separate ways decades ago. John was shot. Sabah, Farid and Wadih are perhaps sharing a stage somewhere in heaven. And here we are, sipping a drink at the Mövenpick’s Hemingway, remembering an afternoon we wish we could have lived, or one we were lucky enough to know. Well, I guess life goes on, despite everything. La vie continuera tant que la terre tournera… Thank you @omars.harb for the extra info and archival photos.
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Beirut Behind the Facades : a new walk through the city’s stories. The Beirut Narrative, with Elie Aramouny, invites you to discover another side of Beirut. This time, tour guide Samira Ezzo leads the way through neighborhoods where architecture, crafts and traditions tell the story of the city. From historic buildings and traditional wood and glass workshops to antique treasures and contemporary street art, this walk explores the many layers of Beirut’s living cultural heritage. Along the way, discover the people and stories that give these neighborhoods their character, and see how the city’s past and present coexist. 📍 Starting point: Beit Beirut, Sodeco 🕚 Tour starts at 11 AM, followed by lunch and a Q&A session. Curious to see Beirut differently? Book your spot at District 7 or through Ihjoz. #MOOVTOO #Beirut #TheBeirutNarrative #CulturalHeritage #BeirutWalking
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GHAZIR, ONE STOP LEADS TO ANOTHER. Above the Keserwan coast, Ghazir brings together old souks, heritage houses, churches and monasteries, with views stretching towards the Mediterranean. Once a seat of emirs and later an important centre of Jesuit education, it’s a village best discovered on foot. Our walk begins in the old souk, along lanes where stone arches, old doorways and traditional façades give us plenty of reasons to pause. Between the heritage houses, we stop at Bassima Batouli’s centuries-old family home. Here, the village’s history becomes personal, connected to generations who have lived under the same roof and to those keeping that family connection alive. Further along, the municipality occupies a handsome heritage building, another stop worth taking time to admire. We also pause at Our Lady of Habchiyeh,one of Ghazir’s historic Maronite parish churches, whose origins connect the village to medieval monastic traditions. Then we reach the old Jesuit college, where Ghazir’s story extends far beyond the village. The Jesuit mission, established here in 1843, laid the foundations for what would become Saint Joseph University in Beirut. The bust of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuits, recalls this long connection to faith and education. And then, an unexpected sight: the striking Brutalist BLF bunker by Youssef Tohmé Architects & Associates, standing right behind the statue of Blessed Abouna Yaacoub (Father Jacques El-Haddad), the « Apostle of the Cross, » at the entrance of the village. Designed as Banque Libano-Française’s Disaster Recovery Center, its bold concrete architecture adds a very different stop to our walk. We finish with a view towards the sea, having wandered between family homes, village landmarks and an architectural surprise. How often have you driven past the road to Ghazir without taking the turn?
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CAPITOLE: BEIRUT HAD PLANS FOR THE NIGHT If you grew up in Beirut in the 1950s and 60s, chances are the name Capitole needs no introduction. A film, an evening out, a meeting in Riad el Solh Square. For generations, this address was part of going downtown. Known as the Asseily Building, it was designed in 1947 by Giorgio Ricci and Georges Araman. Its pale stone façades, strong vertical lines and orderly windows give it a striking presence. Rounded corners soften its imposing scale, while the small rooftop tower makes its silhouette instantly recognisable. Hôtel Le Capitole occupied the upper floors, offering 120 rooms and suites. Its brochure advertised an American bar, a ballroom with a live band, a tea room and a roof garden overlooking Beirut, the mountains and the sea. Long before its later nightlife chapter, this was already an address for dinner and dancing above the city. Below, Cinema Capitole welcomed filmgoers into an auditorium with marble walls, terrazzo floors, decorative ironwork and a balcony. It also hosted live theatre, adding to the building’s place in Beirut’s cultural life. War interrupted that life. After restoration, the former cinema found a different rhythm as Buddha-Bar. Opening in 2004, it brought dramatic interiors, a monumental Buddha and the lounge sound associated with Claude Challe to Beirut’s nightlife, before closing in October 2012. In 2009, Le Capitole gave the rooftop a new following. Its refined atmosphere, great music and views across downtown made it a fashionable nightspot, with Siham Asseily among the partners behind it. Today, inside the former Buddha-Bar, red walls, faded gold lettering and patterned stairs remain. The tables are gone, and the stairs lead into darkness. Once, people came here wondering what the evening would bring. Now, we wonder what will become of the place. Thank you to Elie Melhem of Banque Crédit Libanais for giving us access to the former Buddha-Bar. Kudos to @omars.harb for the extra info and archives. @elie.lb85 @siham_tueni
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Before fashion became what it is today, she was making history on the international scene. The Beirut Narrative with Andrée Acouri, this Sunday at 7 PM on SHFT. Watch on Cablevision and CV+. #TheBeirutNarrative #AndreeAcouri #SHFT #Cablevision #CVPlus
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KAROL SCHAYER: THE COUNTRY HE CHOSE, THE LEBANON HE SHAPED If there’s one foreign architect who contributed enormously to the golden age of modernism in Lebanon, Karol Schayer has got to be him. Alongside figures such as Raoul Verney and Jacques Liger-Belair, he helped shape the country’s architectural landscape during the decades of extraordinary creativity that followed independence. His Lebanese story began in 1946. A Polish architect displaced by the Second World War, Schayer arrived in Beirut with an established career behind him and a new chapter ahead. Lebanon became his home, and he eventually acquired Lebanese citizenship. Working with Fritz Gotthelf, Bahij Makdisi and Wassek Adib, he helped create an architecture suited to a country changing rapidly. Apartment buildings, villas, hotels and offices brought modernism into everyday life. His work extended beyond Beirut to Saida and Tripoli. The AUB Alumni Club, Dar al-Sayad in Hazmieh, the Carlton Hotel in Raouché, the building that housed Hamra’s Horseshoe café and the Shell building all belong to that remarkable body of work. These were places where people lived, worked, gathered and made memories. Hamra held a particularly significant share of his work, including the Makdessi and Jabbour buildings, among others. On one street alone, three of his buildings stand together. That street deserves to bear Karol Schayer’s name, a lasting tribute to the architect who helped give the neighbourhood so much of its character. His architecture gave practical needs an elegant form. Clean lines, generous balconies and carefully considered openings shaped the façades, while sunshades filtered the strong Mediterranean light. At Dar al-Sayad, shading became the building’s defining architectural feature. Modernity was being adapted to life here. Schayer died in Rockford, Illinois, on 15 March 1971, aged 70. But his final wish brought him back to Lebanon: he was buried in Beirut’s Polish cemetery. He had crossed countries to find a new home. In Lebanon, he helped build one for others, then chose it as his own final resting place. With thanks to Omar Harb for the archival photographs and information.
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PRINTANIA PALACE HOTEL A Basque Accent in Broummana. A little of the Basque Country, a reminder of Colmar and Strasbourg, and a story firmly rooted in Lebanon. With its pitched roofs, dark timber-style patterns against pale façades, arched windows and rows of balconies, Printania Palace has a character you recognise immediately. Its decorative colombage recalls those European houses, translated here into the scale of a grand mountain hotel. Commissioned by the late businessman Georges Ashkar and opened in 1964, the hotel’s design is attributed to architect Auguste Babouder. Today, it remains in the Ashkar family, with Pierre Ashkar as its owner. Among the most luxurious hotels of its time, Printania welcomed international visitors, diplomats, celebrities and Lebanon’s elite. Le Chalet club and Le Grenier restaurant were part of its appeal, giving guests reasons to gather long after a day by the pool. Inside, the mountain-house feeling continues. A large stone fireplace anchors the lounge, surrounded by wooden armchairs, patterned upholstery and richly coloured carpets. Dark ceiling beams and substantial chandeliers give the room warmth, while arched windows connect it to the greenery outside. In the entrance and reception areas, geometric ceiling details and polished stone add a more formal touch. The gardens, terraces and swimming pool complete the picture of a hotel built around the pleasures of a mountain stay: fresh air, leisurely afternoons and evenings spent together. In recent years, those outdoor spaces have welcomed restaurants and nightlife venues, including Cinco, adding new chapters to its social life. Printania Palace remains one of the most recognisable landmarks of Lebanon’s golden hospitality years. A place where architecture and the memory of summer still belong together.
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AN AFTERNOON WITH EMIR SAMIR ABILLAMAA. I went to see an art collection and an atelier. I left wanting to tell the story of the man behind them. What was meant to be a simple visit to Emir Samir Abillamaa’s mansion in Dbayeh became an encounter with a larger than life personality whose journey deserves a chapter of its own. From his beginnings at an architectural firm behind the iconic Caves du Roy in Beirut and Los Angeles to his success as an industrial entrepreneur, his life has taken many directions. Along the way, he and his beloved Claude built a family with their four sons, Youssef, Karim, Raed and Maher. Built on the grounds of the former Mandaloun Club in Dbayeh, their mansion brings together a remarkable collection of artworks by numerous artists, including painter and filmmaker Julian Schnabel. Yet what made the visit particularly personal was discovering Samir’s own work. In his atelier, nature and Lebanon’s heritage houses find their way onto his canvases. Seeing these paintings adds another dimension to a man whose life has been so closely connected to industry: the pleasure he takes in observing, painting and creating. Outside, the garden is an artwork in itself. Lush planting, sculptures and art pieces accompany you along its paths, with a swimming pool adding to the beauty of the setting. Within these grounds, architect Raed Abillamaa’s striking modernist mansion and Karim’s enchanting Lebanese house give two very different architectural expressions to a shared family world. There was so much to admire. But it is Samir I will remember most. A remarkable man whose warmth and sincerity made the encounter feel immediately personal. As he shared his journey, I was struck by how genuine he was, and by the enthusiasm with which he spoke about his family, his art and the life he has built. The art brought me there. The man gave me a reason to return. Thank you Hania for a wonderful experience! @haniaaaaaaa
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THE RED HOUSE: WHAT A FAÇADE CANNOT KEEP Behind those red shutters, Beirut gathered. On Abdel Aziz Street in Hamra, the Rebeiz family house belonged to a Ras Beirut whose history stretched back generations. The Rebeiz were among its most prominent families, their name closely connected to the neighbourhood’s land, social life and political history. Known as the Red House, it welcomed Abdallah Yafi, Saeb Salam, Sami el Solh, Habib Abi Chahla and Bahij Takieddine, alongside thinkers, artists and visitors from Lebanon’s celebrated cultural years. Even Louis Armstrong visited in the 1960s. But its story also lived in the everyday details. The extraordinary interior photographs shared by my friend Paola Rebeiz and the Rebeiz family let us see what stood behind the familiar façade: high ceilings, patterned floor tiles, tall wooden windows and rooms connected by generous doorways beneath arched openings. There were crystal chandeliers and fringed lamps, embroidered cushions, brass coffee pots, wooden cabinets and family photographs. Outside, red shutters opened onto a balcony, while trees shaded a courtyard fountain. A home furnished and cared for over generations, with its own character in every room. After family feuds and numerous attempts by activists to stop its demolition, Hamra’s memorable Red House is now just a memory. Its façade remains the last souvenir of a home that stood for more than two hundred years, as generations passed by and paused to admire it. Behind it, the roof and much of the interior are gone. And what comes next? Another ugly tower? A residential block with little thought for the street around it? Or simply a parking lot? Whatever the answer, none will replace what has been lost. Keeping a façade cannot preserve the rooms, the craftsmanship, the garden or the life that gave a house its meaning. Hamra has lost another part of itself. How much more must disappear before we protect what remains? Interior photographs: Paola Rebeiz and the Rebeiz Family
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What if a city could be read like a story, not through its skyline, but through the ideas that shape it? Youssef Tohme on seeing Beirut beyond its façades. The Beirut Narrative | Sunday, 7 PM Watch it on SHFT. Available on Cablevision and CV+. #TheBeirutNarrative #YoussefTohme #SHFT #BeirutThroughAnotherLens
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Back in the 1960s and early 70s, many of Beirut’s celebrated hotels stood on the western side: the Bristol, Saint Georges, Phoenicia and Carlton. Over in Ashrafieh, such addresses were fewer. Then came Hôtel Alexandre. Opening in 1966 on Adib Ishak Street, it became so familiar that its name entered our everyday directions: “Montée Hôtel Alexandre,” or “Tal3it Hotel Alexandre.” You didn’t need to have stayed there to know it. The hotel had given a whole uphill stretch its identity. Behind its story was the Ibrahimchah family. Fathallah Ibrahimchah developed the hotel with partners before taking full ownership in the late 1960s. It was later run by his children, Christian, Alain, Georges, Diane and Karine. Its architecture reflects Beirut’s modernist years: pale stone façades, rows of rectangular windows and a broad projecting roofline. The wings frame a palm-filled courtyard, giving the entrance room to breathe within the neighbourhood. Then there is that sign. Bold blue letters beside a helmeted profile framed by laurel branches, evoking the classical world and the hotel’s name. Above, rooftop lettering announces Alexandre in Arabic and Latin script. Together, they became part of Ashrafieh’s visual memory. Inside, life unfolded around meals at La Palmeraie, drinks at L’Atrium piano bar and gatherings in its conference rooms. Renovations completed in 1997 gave the hotel a renewed chapter after the war. During the Civil War, Alexandre became an address for foreign journalists and diplomats in East Beirut, recalling the Commodore’s role across the divided city. It operated through much of the conflict, despite damage and an interruption during the fighting of 1990. But decades of survival could not protect it from the economic collapse and the pandemic. In May 2020, Hôtel Alexandre closed after more than half a century of welcoming guests. Walking past it today, I would like to believe there is still a future for this building, one that preserves its character and brings life back through its doors. We still give directions by its name. Hopefully, one day, we will have a reason to go inside again. @christianibrahimchah @maya.ibrahimchah
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BEIRUT BEHIND THE FAÇADES Are you ready for another tour? This time, we are taking you through Beirut’s living cultural heritage with tour guide Samira Ezzo. Meeting point: Beit Beirut, Sodeco Tour starts at 11:00 AM We will walk through Bashoura, Khandaq al-Ghamiq, Beirut Digital District, District 7, Monot and Saifi, with visits to historic buildings and institutions along the way. Together, we will uncover the crafts, traditions, architecture and stories that continue to define these neighborhoods. • Taste Moufataka, a traditional Beiruti dessert, with the option to stop at Falafel Khalifeh. • Visit wood and glass workshops in Bashoura and meet craftspeople preserving these historic trades. • Explore Beirut’s antique district and visit Ezzo for Antiques to learn about the objects, their origins and the antique trade. • Discover Bashoura’s historic Muslim cemetery, one of Beirut’s oldest burial grounds, and learn about some of the important figures buried there, including an Ottoman-era governor. • Walk through Khandaq al-Ghamiq and its streets historically associated with carpenters and woodworking trades. • Pass through Beirut Digital District and stop at a large-scale mural by a Cuban artist, opening a conversation about contemporary public art within older neighborhoods. • Continue towards District 7 through Monot and Saifi, observing how different city realities co-exist. Lunch break at District 7 at 1:30 PM followed by a Q&A session at 2:00 PM Tickets: $40 Book your spot at District 7 81-233 144 or through Ihjoz https://ihjoz.com/events/9256
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