Villa Mokbel: New hope for Beirut’s forgotten architectural gem

The stunning but dilapidated mansion is hosting a special kind of exhibition: seeking someone new to love it

Beirut, Lebanon – With its grand Ottoman-era palaces and mansions, Beirut’s historical Sursock Street in the heart of the Achrafieh district – dotted with pockets of greenery, winding streets and small eateries – is a magnet for architecture and heritage lovers.

Most people know of the stunning stained glass windows of the Sursock Museum and the magnificent stucco ceilings of Sursock Palace, buildings that sit opposite each other. These were the homes of the aristocratic Sursock family, wealthy merchants with political ties to the Ottoman Empire, who were among Beirut’s seven founding families.

However, a lesser-known historical gem sits on the same street.

Tucked behind iron gates covered with trailing plants, the slate-blue Villa Mokbel, a former Sursock property that dates back to 1870, has rarely been seen by the public – although a compelling photo of the wrecked villa taken after the 2020 port blast, with a mural peeking through a collapsed wall, significantly elevated its profile.

The explosion, triggered when 2,750 tonnes of improperly stored ammonium nitrate caught fire, killed 218, injured 7,000 and left about 300,000 people homeless. The blast was the third-largest in history after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the full force of it ripped through Villa Mokbel.