Pretty
In Pink
Zamalek's Maison du Canada
by Samir Raafat
Cairo Times, 16 November 2000
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Cheers to our "talented" literature prize awardee. Your pain his gain !!!
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EGY.COM - ZAMALEK
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Pretty
In Pink
Zamalek's Maison du Canada
by Samir Raafat
Cairo Times, 16 November 2000
Aside from election fever, more to do with US presidentials than our predictable local version, Zamalek residents are swept by an ongoing debate on whether or not they like the color of No. 5 Kamel Mohammed Street.
Opinions are divided down the middle: Those who describe the salmon colored mansion as 'a droll pink wedding cake,' and those who applaud the new choice of colors as 'a welcome change from the traditional white which looks bland and dusty within the year.'
The best comment yet came from the little girl who lives in a next-door building. 'Surely, anyone who lives in such a lovely house must be a princess!'
Anna, the 7 year-old daughter of Swedish diplomat Baron Sparre, is not altogether wrong, for the incumbent lady of the most talked about Zamalek residence is Marie-Andree Beauchemin, Canada's first woman ambassador to Egypt (pircture) Inspired by the widespread colors of Italy's beautiful province of Tuscany, she introduced a select sample into Egypt setting off an emboldened new trend. Go for it Beauchemin!
Yet what little Anna and others ignore is that royalty did in fact inhabit these premises some ten years before it became Canadian property. Shortly after her divorce from King Farouk in 1948, Queen Farida (born Safinaz Zulfikar) moved into No. 5 Kamel Mohammed Street where she remained without much ado until her own house was completed on Giza's Pyramid Avenue.
But even before an Egyptian queen and a host of Canadian ambassadors entertained Egypt's finest at No. 5 Kamel Mohammed, the stately mansion had already made local history.
Here's why.
In the 1930s Kamel Mohammed Street was the address found on calling cards belonging to an Italian businessman art-collector, a Turko-Egyptian governor, a minister of interior, a prominent lawyer of Polish-Jew origins and a leading Austrian archeologist.
The latter went by the name of Professor Hermann Junker. With several major discoveries to his name the renown Egyptologist was established in Egypt even before WW1. Upon moving into No. 5 Kamel Mohammed he used the upper two floors as his official residence. The mansion's lower floor and basement became the German Archeological Institute in Cairo.
Junker's library was second to none. His work and discoveries were recorded and taught all over the world. Which is why, whenever a German-speaking visitors of consequence came to Egypt, it was Professor Junker who escorted them around the Giza pyramids or walked them through the Egyptian Museum. Visitors eager to learn more about Egypt's treasures would invariably call at No. 5 for a cup of tea and stimulating conversation.
Ironically, it was his last visitor who brought down the veteran Egyptologist along with the rest of Egypt's German-speaking community. Although it is unsure whether or not Josef Goebbles dropped in at No. 5 Kamel Mohammed, al-Ahram recounts in detail how Professor Junker hosted Germany's minister of propaganda at the Giza plateau in April 1939.
WW2 was declared the following June. Considered an enemy alien Junker was persona non grata in Egypt. And since all German assets were sequestered, ditto the German Archeological Center.
When it became apparent war was not going to end anytime soon, the library was moved to Cairo University and the house occupied by Ibrahim Amer Pasha, an Egyptian-Sudanese merchant who died there circa 1942. The house was then sold in May 1943 by his heirs to Ovadia Mercado Salem, a wealthy Jewish businessman.
The Salems were a large Sephardic family from Salonika then part of the Ottoman Empire. In Egypt Ovadia had formed the Societe d'Avances Commerciales SAE--Sherkat al-Taslifat al-Tugariya. He was also a director of the large department store, Chemla. His affluence and social standing notwithstanding, he was nevertheless interned during the first Arab-Israeli War of 1948 on charges of harboring Zionist sympathies. It was about that time that his wife moved into a nearby flat on Ibn Zanki Street leasing No. 5 to Egypt's former Queen.
When, a few years later, the ex-Queen moved out of No. 5, the Salems found it pointless to move back especially since their children had all immigrated to Europe. Hence the house was leased to the Hungarian Embassy which used it both as residence and chancery.
Ovadia died in Cairo in March 1958. Decidedly his heirs were not going to return. A buyer for the house had to be found.
Enter the Canadian government.
In May 2000 Ambassador Beauchemin was informed that the blushingly handsome Canadian embassy residence on Kamel Mohammed Street had been earmarked as a Zamalek historic house. Likewise, a commemorative 'blue plaque' was presented to the Canadian government evidencing the fact that Egypt's former Queen once lived there. An enthusiastic--at the time--Beauchemin promised to clear it with the concerned department in Ottawa enabling her to append the plaque on the mansion's exterior wall.
Six months later and Zamalek's citizens are still waiting for the outcome of Madame Ambassador's diligent inquiries.
Or is it simply a matter of blue clashing with pink!
Notes:
Ibrahim Amer Pasha, a well to do merchant, lived at No. 5 Ganzouri Street, Abbasieh, before moving into No. 5 Kamel Mohammed Street, Zamalek. Shortly after his deah and following the sale of the villa, Ibrahim Amer Pasha's heirs moved into a nearby three-story building (contractor Abdallah Yazbek) at No. 20 Hassan Sabry (ex-Gabalaya) Street previously owned by lawyer Moise Lionel Zarmati.
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November 16, 2000- January 10, 2001 |
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On January 10, 2001 Mr. Patrick Riel spokesperson for the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs in Ottawa announced that a tri-lingual commemorative plaque will soon appear at No. 5 Kamel Mohammed Street, Zamalek, where Queen Farida once sejourned before it became the Canadian ambassador's offical residence in Cairo. The Cairo Architectural Hertiage Trust applauds Ottawa's decision and all those who supported it... story |
SOME COMMENTS RECIEVED DURING THE POLL |
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Why not? Everybody should be proud to deliver an hommage to a beloved former Queen. And the shape of the plaque can be changed.
