Heliopolis style is an early 20th-century

architectural style An architectural style is a set of characteristics and features that make a building or other structure notable or historically identifiable. It is a sub-class of style in the visual arts generally, and most styles in architecture relate closely ...

developed in the new suburb of Heliopolis in eastern

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

. The Belgian

Cairo Electric Railways and Heliopolis Oases Company The Cairo Electric Railways & Heliopolis Oases Company ( ar, شركة سكك حديد مصر الكهربائية و واحات عين شمس), is the original name of the ''Heliopolis Company for Housing and Development'' ( ar, شركة مصر ...

, responsible for planning and developing the new suburb, created the new style to implement an exclusive distinctiveness to the design of its buildings. This revivalist style is a synthesis of Medieval

Egyptian Revival Egyptian Revival is an architectural style that uses the motifs and imagery of ancient Egypt. It is attributed generally to the public awareness of ancient Egyptian monuments generated by Napoleon's conquest of Egypt and Admiral Nelson's defeat ...

Moorish Revival Moorish Revival or Neo-Moorish is one of the exotic revival architectural styles that were adopted by architects of Europe and the Americas in the wake of Romanticist Orientalism. It reached the height of its popularity after the mid-19th centur ...

, Persian Revival, and European

Neoclassical architecture Neoclassical architecture is an architectural style produced by the Neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century in Italy and France. It became one of the most prominent architectural styles in the Western world. The prevailing style ...

styles.

Style

The goal of this style was to successfully implement the

aesthetic Aesthetics, or esthetics, is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of beauty and taste, as well as the philosophy of art (its own area of philosophy that comes out of aesthetics). It examines aesthetic values, often expressed th ...

and

functional Functional may refer to: * Movements in architecture: ** Functionalism (architecture) ** Form follows function * Functional group, combination of atoms within molecules * Medical conditions without currently visible organic basis: ** Functional sy ...

advantages of the influencing styles. Combining the qualities of these types brought Moorish and Persian facades, Egyptian spatial volumes and ornaments, and European

floor plans In architecture and building engineering, a floor plan is a technical drawing to scale, showing a view from above, of the relationships between rooms, spaces, traffic patterns, and other physical features at one level of a structure. Dimensio ...

, and Neoclassical and Moorish interiors together in a homogeneous unit. The Heliopolis style integrated qualities, including: * climatic adaptation techniques of northern Africa (implemented in volumes). * Persian-Moorish Revival sense of architectural style detailing (implemented in facades). * Euro-Egyptian hospitality social traditions, of the early 20th century era (implemented in plans and interior design).

Examples

The Heliopolis suburb is the only example of this unique architectural style, and is still very well preserved. The Heliopolis style is represented there by a large ensemble of buildings in a wide area with the historic form-language. The

Heliopolis Palace The Heliopolis Palace ( ar, قصر رئاسة الجمهورية, ', "Palace of the Presidency of the Republic" or ', "Federation Palace".) is one of the three Egyptian presidential palaces and residences, the others being Montaza Palace and R ...

, originally a grand hotel opened in 1910 and now a presidential palace, is an exceptional example. Architects practicing at the time in this style included

Charles Ayrout Charles Habib Ayrout (Arabic: شارل حبيب عيروط-) (1905 Cairo, Egypt - 1965 Cairo, Egypt) was an architect practising in Cairo and is considered one of that city's ' pioneer' generation, as well as a Belle Epoque/Art Déco (1920–1940) ...

and

Henry Habib Ayrout Henry Habib Ayrout, S.J. (1907 – April 10, 1969) was an author, educator, and Jesuit priest in Egypt. His father Habib Ayrout was a Syro-Lebanese Egyptian architect practicing in Cairo, Egypt. After being educated in Paris as an engineer-archit ...

References

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External links

''Celebration of a suburb'', Al-Ahram weekly online

''French Architect'', Alexandre Marcel ''Heliopolis Company for Housing and Development'' - Currently responsible for the further development of Heliopolis ''Heliopolis: een Belgische droom in Caïro'' (Heliopolis: A Belgique dream in Cairo)''Cairo Landmarks'', Photographic resource ''L'Egypte célèbre le centenaire d'Héliopolis'' (Egypt celebrates the centenary of Heliopolis)''"Un ensemble urbain Art déco en Egypte : Héliopolis, banlieue du Caire", Volait, Mercedes - Piaton, Claudine, 2003'' ''" L’identification d’un ensemble urbain du XXème siècle en Egypte : Héliopolis, Le Caire", Volait, Mercedes, 2008''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Heliopolis Style Revival architectural styles Architecture in Egypt History of Cairo African architecture by style

Style

Examples

See also

References

External links