Heliopolis Palace (Hotel)

There is a lot of mystery surrounding the commission currently surveying presidential palaces. Every few weeks news emerges of priceless finds including historical objects dating to Egypt’s last dynasty or earlier in addition to precious stones, and “rare paintings.” It is unclear why the ruling military council took such swift steps to survey the palaces and their contents while there are many other urgent matters to deal with nationally. The commission, creating an inventory of palace contents, brings attention to two important question: Why are there so many presidential palaces and where will Egypt’s next president live?

One of the most lavish presidential palaces was formally a hotel. The 400-room Heliopolis Palace, known as Qasr el-Itihadiyya or Qasr el-`Uruba is a highy secured complex functioning as headquarters of presidential administration. Its former life as a hotel in the suburb of Heiopolis was known as one of the world’s most luxurious hotels. Since the palace is off limits here is a description of the building’s original design:

The landmark hotel was designed by Belgian architect Ernest Jaspar. He introduced the local Heliopolis style of architecture, a synthesis of Persian, Moorish Revival, Islamic, and European Neoclassical architecture. It was built by the contracting firms Leon Rolin & Co. and Padova, Dentamaro & Ferro, the two largest civil contractors in Egypt then. Siemens & Schuepert of Berlin fitted the hotel’s web of electric cables and installations. The utilities were to the most modern standards of their day. The hotel operations were under French administered management.

The Heliopolis architectural style, responsible for many wonderful original buildings in Heliopolis, was exceptionally expressed in the Heliopolis Palace Hotel’s exterior and interior design. The hotel had 400 rooms, including 55 private apartments. Beyond the Moorish Revival reception hall two public rooms were lavishly decorated in the Louis XIV and the Louis XV styles. Beyond those was the Central Hall, the primary public dining space with a classic symmetrical and elegant beauty.

The Central Hall’s dome, awe inspiring to guests, measured 55 metres (180 ft) from floor to ceiling. The 589 square metres (6,340 sq ft) hall’s architectural interior was designed by Alexander Marcel of the French Institute, and decorated by Georges-Louis Claude. Twenty-two Italian marble columns circled the parquet floor up to the elaborate ceilings. The hall was carpeted with fine Persian carpets and had large mirrored wall panels and a substantial marble fireplace. To one side of the Central Hal was the Grillroom seating 150 guests, and to the other was the billiards hall, with two full-sized British Thurston billiard tables and a ‘priceless’ French one. The private banquet halls were quite large and elaborate.

The mahogany furniture was ordered from Maple’s of London. Damascus-made ‘East Orient style’ lamps, lanterns, and chandeliers hung throughout, suspended like stalactite pendants. The upper gallery contained oak-paneled reading and card rooms furnished by Krieger of Paris. The basement and staff areas were so large that a narrow gauge railway was installed running the length of the hotel, passing by offices, kitchens, pantries, refrigerators, storerooms and the staff mess.

After serving briefly as the headquarters for the short-lived union between Libya, Egypt and Syria from 1972, the palace was restored in the 1980s making it the prime presidential palace for Mubarak. The question then presents itself: Will this be the headquarters and possibly home to Egypt’s next president? What is the fate of the many other palaces which have been reserved as “presidential palaces” such as Abdeen and al-Qubba.