Omar Khattab writes in his chapter “Socio-Spatial Analysis of Traditional Kuwaiti Houses” (from Methodologies in Housing Research) that the twenty eight-house Behbehani Complex was built in the 1940s and is named after its developer, Yusuf Behbehani. Khattab’s information on the complex is also included in the book Cities in Transition, where we learn that after the Behbehani family left in the 1960s, the complex fell into disrepair before further destruction during the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Khattab comments that, “in more recent times, another form of invasion has occurred, that of restaurants and commercial facilities. Only eight out of twenty eight houses in all are still used as residential units.”
The work from Khattab dates from the early 2000s, I was told that now only three of the houses are still residential units and that perhaps only one person lives there full time. The complex is in Kuwait City in the al-Watia area, which apparently means “footmarks” in the Kuwaiti dialect as people used to stroll beside the sea shore and leave their footmarks on the sand. Within the complex there is the great old style restaurant Shatea Alwatyia.
Below you can also see images from an exhibit that took place in December of 2020 of embroidered pieces put on by Yero (the Yemeni Education and Relief Organization), whose mission statement is to “empower Yemeni women and to educate their children.” The exhibition was held in the Dar Al Funoon art gallery. The gallery has been open since 1994 and is located in number 28 of the Behbehani House Complex. The older photograph of the complex from the work Voice of the Oud. The floor plan map comes from the article Socio-Spatial Analysis of Traditional Kuwaiti Houses by Omar Khattab.
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