Page 56 - Histories of City and State in the Persian Gulf_Neat

36 Histories of City and State in the Persian Gulf

populated areas, newly built houses distinguished tribal from agricultural
communities. Even small pearling centres had permanent housing in
contrast with the majority of villages whose landscape was dominated by
barastis. 51 Manama’s housing boom coincided with the expansion of its
port economy after the 1880s which brought to the town large numbers
of immigrants and considerable wealth to the import–export merchants.
al-‘Awadiyyah, the most affluent residential district of the town, was built
with the capital of immigrants from Iran who left the port of Lingah
after the establishment of a customs administration in 1900. In the same
way as the al-Bastakiyyah quarter of Dubai, its wind towers (al-kashtil)
became the most architecturally distinctive feature of Manama. The
history of Bayt Khadim, one of the large mansions of the district, illus-
trates the ways in which family and commercial connections from over-
seas contributed to transform the built environment. The house was first
built by Muhammad Latif Khadim (b. 1899), a young trader from Lingah,
as a simple structure in palm branches and coral stone. It was rebuilt as a
large merchant house after his nephew Muhammad Sa‘id joined him from
Iran sometime in the early 1920s, married his daughter and helped him to
expand his business in the carpet trade. 52
The architectural style of upper-class mansions displayed the cultural
influences and the ethnic divisions between tribal and cosmopolitan entre-
preneurs, and between them and the ruling family. In Muharraq the palaces
of the Al Khalifah (al-qusur,sing. al-qasr) resembled the tribal forts of the
desert. They were organised around internal courtyards and protected by
high walls; their inward-looking and defensive architecture made them an
integral part of the ideal al-qasbah celebrated by Muhammad al-Nabhani.
The residences of merchants in Muharraq, Manama and al-Hidd shared
the cosmopolitan influences of the Indian Ocean trade. Expensive varieties
of wood used for doors and windows, such as mangrove, teak and sandal,
were imported from India, as well as building techniques and large items of
wooden household furniture. The facades and exterior decorations of the
merchant houses of Manama showed more openness to the outside world
and a strong Persian influence. Many followed the style of the ports of the
Gulf coast, and of Bushehr in particular, with two floors and reception
rooms at roof level. 53 In the words of the British Indian lawyer Manockjee
Cursetjee who visited Manama in 1917:

51
C. Belgrave, The Pirate Coast (Beirut: Librairie du Liban, 1972), p. 76; Lorimer, Gazetteer,
vol. II, pp. 217–29.
52
Interview with Hamid al-Awadhi, Manama, 19 April 2004.
53
Belgrave, The Pirate Coast, p. 76; al-Nabhani, al-Tuhfah al-Nabhaniyyah, pp. 141–4;
R. Lewcock, Traditional Architecture in Kuwait and Northern Gulf (London: Archaeology
Research Papers, 1978), pp. 15–23, 46.