In downtown Cairo, one building stands out and defies time: Immobilia – Egypt’s first skyscraper.
Situated on the corner of Sherif Street and Qasr El Nil Street, Immobilia is a famous residential building that is considered the largest building in Cairo.
The designs by French architect Max Edrei and Italian Gaston Rossi were chosen out of the thirteen submitted for this mega-project in 1938-1940. It was the preferred residence for famous politicians and artists in the 1940s and 1950s.
It is among the possessions of the Egyptian millionaire Ahmed Abboud Pasha Aboud (1899-1963), the richest man in the country at that time. His wealth was estimated at LE30 million and he was one of the ten wealthiest individuals in the world at his death.
On an area of 5,444 square metres, Immobilia is in the U-shaped form of two towers, which were erected at a total cost of LE1.2 million.
One of the two towers consists of 11 floors, and the other rises to 13 floors. The two towers include 370 apartments and 27 elevators, of which some were for the exclusive use of residents, while their servants and furniture were allocated their own elevators.
The Immobilia is the first structure without external classical décor that was common at that time it was built.
It was also the first building with an underground garage with capacity for 100 cars.
Despite the grandeur and prestige of the building, leasing the apartments was a tough job. There were so few takers, possibly because of the high rents — between LE6 and LE12, while the average flat rental was LE2 or LE3.
Therefore, the building owners advertised in the press, highlighting the structure’s foundations that could withstand earthquakes. New tenants lived rent free for three months after signing the contract.
Indeed, it paid to advertise. Celebrities such as Egyptian comedian Naguib el-Rihani (1889-1949) lived in apartment 321 on the third floor. You can see a plaque at the building entrance informing you of this famous former tenant.
Singer, actor, and composer Mohamed Abdel Wahab (1902-1991) lived next-door to el-Rihani. Abdel Wahab enriched Egyptian music with more than 1,800 songs and pieces of classical Arabic music, plus eight musical comedies between 1933 and 1949. A museum of his life and work is in the Arabic Music Institute in Ramses Street.
On the eighth floor, actor, director and producer Anwar Wagdi (1904-1955) lived with his wife, the glamorous singer and actress Laila Mourad, one of the most prominent superstars in Egypt and the entire Arab world.
Mohamed Fawzy (1918-1966), a leading entertainer and impresario in the thriving musical film scene of Egypt in the 1940s and 1950s, lived on the seventh floor with his wife Hedaya. His son is the owner since his mother’s death.
Politician and Wafd Party leader Fouad Serageldin (1911-2000) and Ibrahim Pasha Abdel Hadi, who was Prime Minister of Egypt from 28 December 1948 until 26 July 1949, lived here.
Immobila was owned by Aboud Pasha until 1961 when President Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalised the property.
Aboud Pasha suffered a heart attack and his doctor recommended that he travel abroad. Aboud left Egypt taking with him LE5 million and a quantity of jewellery that nationalisation did not reach and he remained abroad until his death.
If it could speak, Immobila would have many stories to tell. Film director Salah Abu Seif (1915-1996) was on his way to visit an actor in the building when the elevator broke down. He was stuck for hours until it was repaired. This incident inspired the film “Between Heaven and Earth” (1960), which tells the story of a disparate group of people stuck in a lift. His friend novelist Nobel laureate Naguib Mahfouz (1911-2006) wrote the screenplay.
The story of a tenant who killed his maid and a broker in the 1990s became the film “The Immobilia Crime”, directed by Khaled El-Hagar. It was screened at the 40th Cairo International Film Festival in 2018.
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