Aleppo Houses

The houses are usually accessed through a modest space leading into a spacious and beautifully landscaped courtyard. The entrance door consists of one or two wooden door-leaves, reinforced with lead plates fixed with steel nails. The small size of the external doors represents modesty, which is also demonstrated in the lack of decorations of the external windows. It is very difficult, therefore, to judge the level of wealth or poverty of the houses from their external appearance. The entrance door usually leads to a narrow passage at the end of which another door the entrance to the courtyard, allowing this latter to be totally private and visually inaccessible from the outside, even if the entrance door is left open, which was frequently the case as the old city neighborhoods used to enjoy a high level of security.

BEIT GHAZALEH

Ghazaleh House is one of the most important examples of 17th century Ottoman architecture in Aleppo. It is located just outside the old city of Aleppo in one of the most prestigious and touristic areas of the city, the Jdeideh neighbourhood. Beside traditional elements, like the beautiful courtyard, the fountain and the carved decorative stones, it is also well

-Preserved and high

-Quality wooden panels and

-Unique feature in Ottoman Aleppo a large private hammam.

The house has been described in several publications about the old city of Aleppo and was used as a school in the 1970s. This state owned mansion has been recently restored and transformed into a museum of the City of Aleppo.

The building facades decorated with stone plant above the windows and form paintings very precious and beautiful, as well as woodwinds textured covering the walls and ceiling, and have different types, such as linen and “ajami” and others. The building has also a hammam with his basic sections (exterior, middle and interior). It has also basic sections for a aleppine house like (haramlek, for the women, and salamlek, for the men and the khadamlek, for the servents). It has also a main hall, called “dora hall”

The house is listed in the Aga Khan trust for culture

Beit Achiqbash

• This house is an old Aleppine house built in 1757. The building is home to the Popular Traditions Museum since 1975, showing fine decorations of the Aleppine art.

This house is located at the first gate Jasmine in the district of JDAYDEH in Aleppo, and its construction dates back to the Ottoman era.

It has built by (Kara Ali) in the twelfth century , and took it until the eighteenth century, then owned by another person named (Ojqpash), a Turkish origin, and called this name; For being the first person to raise his head for Aunt, The meaning of the word (Ojq bash) means any head uncovered .

House and remained conservative on this name in all the books of historical and architectural, and successively this house a lot of Turkish families and then Aleppo, the latest of which was the family of (ra’ii).

This house has been converted at the current time into a museum called the Museum of Popular Traditions.

DAR ZAMARAIA

Aleppo was the first to open boutique hotels, Beit Wakil and Dar Zamaria, in the 1990s. The traditional houses of Jdaydeh neighborhood line a labyrinth of alleyways.

This boutique hotel was named after the zamaria family who lived since the early 18th century, this beautiful Islamic courtyard house shows the splendors of ottoman architecture.

The center of the residence, the courtyads, has its private residential quarters, the iwan, covered patios, and the halls, were designed and decorated to entertain guests, all facing the courtyard. The courtyard, iwan and halls have benn covered into restaurants and resting areas and the private residential quarters have been converted into bedrooms.

the architecture:

Behind high-walled, windowless exterior, designed to secure the inhabitants from heat, noise, and dust, a small entrance leads onto a spacious, garden and marble fountains, with elevated iwan and chambers around all sides. On all sides of the iwan and in the upstairs areas, geometric designs and poetic, quoranic verses, or maxims fill the walls of the rooms overlooking the courtyard.

Beit wakil

Beit Wakil may not be the most luxurious of the boutique hotels but this 16th century palace is an example of Aleppine architecture at its best. It combines two houses with beautiful courtyards, decorated with masonry art, colored marble floors, and superb arabesque woodwork. In the central reception (qa’a), the wooden ceilings with cornices surround a suspended dome with colored arabesque glass. It is connected to the Citadel of Aleppo, nearby Dar Zamaria.Neighborhood courtyard houses were bridged with the “Dar” to create three secluded gardens and decorated iwan.

Beit Salahiyeh

The iwan is an important covered open space from which the aesthetic qualities of the courtyard can be enjoyed. It provides a raised platform (by one or two steps), used as a pleasant and comfortable open air reception and seating area and a venue for evening events such as the playing of traditional music. The iwan is usually located on the north façade of the courtyard to catch the cool breeze during the summer. The iwan comprises two symmetrical rooms facing each other and has an ornamental front stone arch facing the courtyard. The transition from the courtyard to the iwan space is marked by a multicolored marble patterned floor, which resembles an oriental carpet.

Facing the iwan is the main guest reception hall – used for special ceremonies and festivities such as Eid. This hall is the most decorated space in the house and contains the best items of furniture. In some houses, such as the Wakil, Basil and Ghazali houses in Aleppo, the main guest hall is covered by a dome.

The courtyard windows are much larger and are more decorated, providing light and ventilation to the rooms. The ground floor window located inside the thickness of the wall and a wooden shutter is positioned to the outside of the wall thickness. Other types of windows can be found at the base of the courtyard. They are small and arched with no decorations and provide light and ventilation to the basement floor. The doors of the ground floor rooms are two-leaf wooden doors with a minimum of ornamental carvings, the first floor doors are, however, relatively undecorated.

In the main reception hall, wall cabinets built-into the thickness of the walls are used to display ornaments such as wooden ornamental carving. The walls around the cabinets are sometimes covered with wooden panels with calligraphic carvings matching the cabinet design. The ceilings are also highly decorated, with wooden panels displaying intricately linked ornamental geometrical shapes. This is particularly the case in the main reception hall, where the ceiling is the highest in the house and consists of intersecting wooden panels with rich carving and gold-plated designs. Symmetry plays an important role in the composition of the ceiling decorations.

The internal decorations are based on the following four types of patterns:

▪ Calligraphy based on verses of the holy Qur’an or verses of poetry;

▪ Floral patterns derived from stems and leaves of various plants;

▪ Patterns derived from animal forms such as birds;

▪ Geometric patterns derived from the combination of circles, squares, rectangles and triangles.

The geometric patterns are formed by multicolored stone inlays and intersecting timber slats and from floor and ceiling decorations. They are most evident in the floors of the main reception hall, the iwan and the courtyard area in front of the iwan.

The facades: window and doors

Peal decorated doors

Details of the ceilings: wood material

Mukarnas

The courtyard organization is appropriate to hot dry climates because it maximizes shading and allows for the creation of a pleasant microclimate.

The availability of plants and a water feature within the courtyard helps in cooling and humidifying the internal atmosphere. The construction technique, which is based on thick load-bearing stone masonry, provides adequate thermal mass.

Economic factors

As previously discussed, all Syrian courtyard houses share a humble external appearance. However, their size and level of internal decoration depends on the wealth of the occupying families. Three categories can be identified: large courtyard houses of rich families, medium-sized houses of traders and craftsmen and small and humble houses of the workers

Aleppo houses

INTRODUCTION

HISTORY OF ALEPPO

Jdaydeh neighborhood

When we walk in the alley of the old city of Aleppo “Jdaide”, you can find the most beautiful doors, the most beautiful buildings (some almost falling down and held together with steel structures), and you find the most beautiful details. The influence is an unusual mixture of Islamic/Middle Eastern art with very European details that must have been imported and incorporated in the local designs, therefore “syrianized”.

Courtyard housing dates back to the beginning of the third millennium before common era when it appeared in the buildings of Bilad al-Sham and those of the region between the two rivers Tigris and Euphrates. Arab nomads made use of the concept of a courtyard during their travels and stay in the desert. They set up their tents around a central space, which provided shelter and security to their cattle. With the development of Arab-Islamic architecture, the courtyard became an essential typological element. It is likely that the previous nomadic desert lifestyle of Arabs had a strong influence on their permanent houses. The courtyard therefore fulfils a deep-rooted need for an open living area. The following article describes the typology of the Syrian courtyard house, and presents a number of examples of courtyard houses in Aleppo.

The traditional courtyard house in Syria is composed of three parts:

▪ A basement floor;

▪ A ground floor comprising the main living areas called Al Salamlek;

▪ A first floor comprising the private areas called Al Haramlek.

Plan of Ghazali house

Yasmeen d'Alep house

The courtyard is the central area of Yasmeen d'Alep house, all rooms surround it. The iwan is directed to the east of the courtyard in the past it was used as a living area in summer. In the center of the courtyard, we find the traditional fountain which is used to cool the air during summer time from the heat, and in winter the yard is convered above thus creating warm atmosphere. and connected with other nearby caves through tunnels which run underneath the old city. These tunnels have been thought to lead to the Citadel. The renovation of this cave has taken several months to turn it into a beautiful Turkish Steam Bath which contains three levels

arabesque mashrabiya

IWAN

More architectural features

Tourath house

260 year-old Tourath House, it is one of Aleppo's most beautiful courtyards, with an attractive iwan (summer room) with decorative ceiling that has been turned into a traditional majlis (sitting area). Intricately carved wooden doors and shutters, painting ceilings , stained glass arabesque windows, and an enormous chandelier complete the picture

The transition from the outside to the inside is marked by a contrast in spatial experience, from a modest and sometimes austere entrance to a highly decorated internal open courtyard with a central fountain (and sometimes a well) and beautiful facades.

Landscaping also plays an important role in the courtyard of the traditional Syrian house. It consists of two main categories: decorative planting such as climbing jasmine and rose bushes, which add color and scent to the courtyard atmosphere, and citrus trees such as orange and lemon. The facades of the internal courtyard are highly decorated with intricately woven geometric patterns and shapes.

Hotel orient house

The orient house combines the modern with the traditional, showing the city’s roots through its architecture. It belonged to the alhorani family since the 18th century, participating in important political events. Consisting of various rooms and terraces, for the women part and the men part, overlooking the patio with citrus trees, jasmine and byzantine pillars.

The architectural elements of the Syrian courtyard house

The courtyard with the typical fountain.

The Syrian Fountain adds to the refreshing atmosphere of the Central Atrium. A traditional feature of the “hoash” (central courtyard in classic Arab house design), the gentle water sounds lend a cool tranquillity. It's concentric star design repeats in the inlaid marble of the Atrium floor.

The courtyards facades are entirely devoid of carved ornament, and consist of careful arrangements of windows and large arched doorways, wich have tympana with pointed arches. In the old photographs and architecture, we can see the brick patching at the tops of the prayer hall doorway where pieces of wood were set into the masonry to accommodate door and window frames.

Done by:

Lamia Sabbagh