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damascene dereliction An architectural study trip to shortly before the Arab Spring took hold revealed the Old Town of to be long-abandoned and lamentably neglected. A year on, this precious heritage continues to deteriorate unregarded amid escalating violence and crisis Geor gina ward & niall mclaughlin

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It is said that the Prophet of Jupiter, which can now be competition to construct baits homes are unsuitable for modern Mohammad refused to enter the spotted as lintels along the route (lavish courtyard homes) as demands. In the 1960s, a new gates of Damascus. He ascended of the ruined peribolos, and the symbols of power. generation of Damascene children the mountain track which led reinstated Roman arch, found Some 16,000 homes ranging were looking for independence all travellers to the city, but when excavating Straight Street, from small houses to extravagant from traditional inter- when the view emerged of the are two examples of Damascene palaces were recorded at the end generational living. This glistening, lush oasis of Damascus history that illustrate this layered of the empire in the Ottoman coincided with a desire for space he continued past, proclaiming narrative in the urban fabric yearbook of 1900. More than half and the convenience of being ‘man should only enter Paradise of the city. of these houses no longer exist. able to drive a car to your door. once’. The mythical status of Despite the mixed historic Of the ones that remain, several En masse people moved to new Damascus as the oldest fabric, the domestic architecture have had their delicate decoration high-rise apartments in the continually inhabited city has of the Old Town is dominated by hastily covered with a sad suburbs, thus emptying the Old persisted through its existence; the period of Ottoman rule. From attempt at reproduction; others Town of residential life. After this as described by Mark Twain, occupation in 1516 until the time have been painstakingly revived; exodus, the elite of Damascus ‘she measures time not by days, of the French Mandate in the more still have been abandoned grew to regard the Old Town as months and years, but by the early 20th century, Damascus to crumble and ruin. a slum. Most of the houses have empires she has seen rise and grew vastly. The city became the The reason for the Ottoman never been reoccupied because of prosper and crumble to ruin. entrepôt of the Hajj to Mecca, home’s demise is conveyed in the the stigma attached to the area. She is a type of immortality.’ bringing copious trade and plan of the Old Town. Open Bait Quwatli is one such house, Visiting Damascus in January concomitant wealth. Building public space is limited; instead whose simple walls conceal a 2011, only weeks before the Arab spread particularly along the the city fabric is inverted within richly interwoven inner world. Spring spread to Syria, this sense caravan route of the pilgrims and the home into the private space of Unlike the majority of the of the passage of time within the clustered close to the religious the inner courtyards. Dense and Ottoman courtyard homes, whose old city walls was tangible. The centre of the . cramped, the restricted network families rose through religious or scattered columns of the Temple With this wealth there was of alleyways and inward looking military power, the name of

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1 Bait Quwatli 2 Umayyad Mosque 3 Line of the ruined peribolos 4 River 5 City wall 6 Location of the Agora 7 Straight Street 8 The Citadel

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Quwatli ascended through trade. Ultimately there were four homes that bore the name of Quwatli within the city walls, but this was the largest. Thought to have been built nearly 200 years ago at the height of Ottoman rule in Damascus, the bait once housed the first British Consulate, but is now empty. Bait Quwatli is a prime example of the need to safeguard the city’s historic architectural wealth. To be close to the religious centre and the city’s major trading points, Quwatli built his 6 family home just to the north of the great Umayyad Mosque; sandwiched between where the Roman peribolos to the south and the city wall to the north once stood. Like most Damascene courtyard homes which articulate a culture of external modesty and internal display, the house has little outward expression. Instead the austere, windowless facade blends in with its surroundings. It is impossible not only to recognise the status of the house within, but also to distinguish the boundary between this house and its neighbours. However, once entering the front door and crossing a blank white hall into

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1. (Previous page) view to the east across the crumbling roof and courtyard of Bait Quwatli 2. Plan of the Old Town of Damascus. Bait Quwatli sits immediately to the north of the Umayyad Mosque, along the line where the Roman peribolos once stood

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3 1 Bait Quwatli 2 Umayyad Mosque 3 Line of the ruined peribolos 4 Barada River 5 City wall

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the main courtyard, you are ‘It is a struggle to an extension of the home, where walls of the room are punctured enveloped in texture. the shady ground floor rooms by high circular windows, which The house and courtyard are marry an almost opened up to the exterior. on the facade are curiously enormous, more akin to a palace naively romantic Central to this courtyard sits a disguised within rectangular than a house, with every surface fountain, where in the arid climes frames. Beneath the paintings covered in pattern and colour. impression of a of Syria an abundance of water and oculi, elaborate panelling of Stripes of orange, cream and fleeting visit to these is synonymous with wealth. gypsum and lacquerwork in gold basalt black work their way As with all palace courtyards, and now muted pinks, blues and up the facade, detailed with palaces last January the fountain at Bait Quwatli greens create texture and ornate gypsum ornamentation that with the stark reality is positioned in line with the niches that mimic the form of shrouds doorways and windows. of the shaky hand great arched liwan, a double- mosque mihrabs, adding further Much of the decoration is height room which is fully depth to the walls. The floor is coloured plasterwork, where camera footage of exposed to the exterior. thick with dust that was once tinted pastes replicate geometric the city today.’ Leading off theliwan through plasterwork and ornament. patterned mosaic. an inconspicuous door is the main One cause of the extent and The spatial form of the reception room for public use. speed of ruination can be found in courtyard homes catered for the The room holds the most the construction techniques. The extremes in the Syrian climate. astonishing mix of decoration in ground floors and cellars were During the winter months, life the house. Spreading down from commonly built of striped basalt was played out on the upper the patterned poplar beams, and limestone, a method known floors, the lush reams of carpet which slump and crack, moments as ablaq, brought to Syria from and richly decorated wooden from collapse, are murals Cairo after the construction of panelling insulated from the depicting fashionable landscapes the Mosque of al-Zahir Baybars, cold. During the hot summer of the Ottoman Empire. Split into also known as the Qasr Ablaq months, the courtyard became two spaces by an archway, the Palace, during the 12th century.

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4 3. Isometric view from 5 the Old Town wall towards the Umayyad Mosque. The city fabric is inverted within the home into the private space of the inner courtyards 4. Stripes of orange, cream and basalt black work their way up the facade, detailed with gypsum ornamentation that shrouds doorways and windows 5. The arched liwan provides a shaded exterior room off the courtyard for escape from the searing heat 6. Liwan courtyard elevation. Rectangular window frames conceal the circular form of the oculi within

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Picture credits 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 & 7, Georgina Ward 8, Matthew Leung 9, Paul Sidebottom 10, Ric Wood

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9 7. Interior elevations and ceiling plan of the public reception room 8. Detail of the faded decorative panelling 9. The deterioration of the roof is causing the ceilings to slump and crack into the room below, revealing the layers of construction and exposing the fragile interior ornamentation to the elements 10. Poplar beams are finely painted in muted greens and pinks

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However, the upper floors and roofline as the water drenched has taken account of different and oppression and in this roofs were constructed of layers mud roofs sag into the rooms periods, thus revealing history, moment, the plight of these of poplar, dried mud and straw beneath. The progressive story and decay in the building houses seems remote from the bricks, packed in with more mud exterior deterioration has led fabric. The delight of these fight for survival and freedom and a final skim of lime plaster. many of the ceilings to collapse, palaces is conjured in the of the Syrian people. The fast, but temporary building destroying the finely painted imagination, evoking narrative Seamus Heaney in The materials created an adaptable poplar beams and exposing and an abstract memory of Government of the Tongue, living space; the home could the fragile interior ornamentation the house. Vital to the when reflecting on the arts easily grow or shrink to to the elements. experience of Bait Quwatli during times of crisis, found accommodate the size of family or There appear to be two is a child-like excitement of it difficult to avoid the ‘feeling changing styles. Over their years opposing attitudes to the being ‘the intrepid explorer’; that song constituted a betrayal in use, many of the house restoration of the Ottoman you feel as though you are of suffering’. Despite these footprints remained the same, palaces in the Old Town. The the first to encounter its reservations, Heaney maintained but the layout above might approach found in many of the decayed state. There at just the necessity for poetry in a change with each occupant. boutique hotels in Damascus is the right moment, teetering society that is collapsing around This temporary nature to pick one period in the bait’s before collapse − between you; there is still a place to speak required constant maintenance to history, and to renovate and its life and end. out for beauty, in defence of this prevent decomposition. Decades strip back the building to that It is a struggle to marry an built poetry. Amid the violence, without a steady owner’s care point. This leads, however, to a almost naively romantic the old courtyard homes still have left the mud and poplar somewhat flat, lifeless experience. impression of a fleeting visit to stand, but their condition is walls and ceilings vulnerable to Inspiration can instead be these palaces last January with precarious. Many of these fragile decay. This is particularly taken from the recent revival the stark reality of the shaky Ottoman wonders are teetering apparent in the roof of Bait of Bait al-Aqqad, as the Danish hand camera footage of the city on the brink of complete ruin. Quwatli where an undulating Institute in Damascus. The today. The streets of Damascus ☛ For further insight visit wave dips and swells along the highly sympathetic restoration have witnessed intense violence architectural-review.com/Damascus

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