Modernist building damaged

Amid the recent clashes near Tahrir Square between protesters and security forces, an iconic building designed by Egyptian architect Ali Labib Gabr was damaged. Fire broke out on the third floor during the fighting and eye witnesses claim it was caused by a tear gas canister which landed in the apartment. Regardless of the exact cause of fire, the entire apartment was burned with black marks remaining on the facade of the building.

The building was designed by Gabr in 1937-38 for Ahmed Kamel Pasha who was the head of the Alexandria Municipality at the time. The building sits at a narrow triangular corner site which gave it its sharp corner turn, a trademark of 1930s streamline design that was popular in Cairo at the time. The building is located on Tahrir Street (formally Ismail Street) between Bab el-Louq Square and Tahrir Square. Gabr was a modernist architect working in Egypt in the 1930s among a group of modernists who were well connected and aware of global architectural trends and created an architecture that is both global in its language and local in its appropriation.

The damage caused by the fire is probably not structural, however it has added yet another scar to an architecture long neglected in Cairo and taken for granted due to its understated design.

If in fact security forces caused the fire they should be accountable. However, in a state that has thus far been unaccountable for the loss of human life, it is doubtful that it will claim responsibility for the relatively minor damage caused to a building.