Save Beirut’s Little Red House: Another Beautiful Architectural Gem Under Threat Of Being Demolished
Another day, another one of Beirut’s most valued buildings under the threat of being demolished to make way for another uninhabited, culturally-irrelevant sky-high tower that will only add to the generic facade that has taken over what was once a city of great heritage.
Over the last couple of decades, Beirut’s most treasured heritage homes have been vanishing at an increasingly alarming rate, to make way for more of the same modern buildings that make Beirut indistinguishable from other cities around the world.
The latest victim of this new urban trend is Hamra’s cherished Rebeiz Residence, also known as The Little Red House, an 18th Century architectural gem in the heart of Beirut’s Hamra neighborhood. We at Beirut.com are lucky enough to have this building as the view from our office, a view that we cherish deeply as one that feels like home. Now up for sale, it is highly likely that once this gem sells, it will be demolished to make way for a sky-rise apartment building that this neighborhood, one of Beirut’s most culturally-celebrated and spatially-congested, doesn’t need.
It would be truly devastating to witness this stunning heritage site being demolished in order for it to be replaced with a fancy commercial building or an obnoxious residential tower. The good news is, you can help deter this from happening by signing Change.org’s petition to save The Little Red House.
The Rebeiz Residence is one of Beirut’s last standing architectural heritage sites, and it would truly be a shame to see it fade away like too many other of the city’s most stunning buildings have. The Change.org petition states the demands they’ve made from governmental authorities in hopes that the house will be preserved.
“We hereby demand the relevant authorities, including the Lebanese Ministry of Culture, Lebanese Shura Council, the Municipality of Beirut and HE the Minister of Culture to make all the needed efforts to finance the restoration and preservation of this unique house to maintain it and keep it. This immediate and loud call for action is greatly needed because the Little Red House is now in great danger of becoming extinct. This is a call for not only this location, but a clear and direct demand that the aforementioned authorities do something about it and save our heritage.”
We hope that you’ll take the time to sign the petition, knowing that in doing so you’ll be promoting the preservation of our country’s long-lasting legacy – a legacy that is unfortunately being extinguished with every building, like this one, that is under the imminent threat of being demolished.
