Complex of al-Waqqad Family (unlisted) second half of the 19th cent. A.D. / late 13th cent. A.H.

This huge structure was reportedly a palace originally built by Khedive Isma’il for his mother Khushiyar, and then acquired and re-built by the al-Waqqad family in the 1870s. The large stone-built complex blends neo-Mamluk motifs with European designs. The grand façade on Sultan Ahmad Street is of Classical composition overall. The simple and bold stone-carved architectural decoration gives the façade a powerfully muscular appearance. The complex includes a grand entrance hall with extremely impressive wooden doors, a huge colonnaded prayer hall, a reception hall (all in different stages of ruin), and an internal residential/service area, which has now been turned into a village-like cluster of houses.