Ghunaim House

Built for the prominent Ghoneim family, known for its inheritance of soap, the property was designed with a spacious patio in its center an oval source, surrounded by bitter lemon trees that perfumed space for centuries. The hall facades are adorned with intricate plasterwork, colored with green copper oxide, and the arch capitals gilded with Roman gold. The wooden ceiling, known as Alfuto, presents floral paintings and a poetic inscription: “If a man does not preserve friendship…” After the nationalization of factories in 1965, the house was reused as a record maintenance file. Later, in 2004, an expatriate family restored it, turning it into a guest house of an artist. In spring, the Iwan becomes a live Muwashshah theater, demonstrating how sound reverberates beneathe the arch, lending the space a musical solemnity. A live carpentry workshop presents to visitors the craft of Manbarja, a wooden lattice where soap is left to cure for an entire year before shipment.