According to the chapter “Framentarium” by Robert Fabbri in the book Urban Modernity in the Contemporary Gulf, Kuwait’s First Master Plan, commissioned in the 1950s, designated Fahad Al Salem (then called Jahra Road) and Abdullah al Salem (then called Naif Avenue) to become the first modern streets in Kuwait City. Fabbri writes that, “they pointed to Safat Square, the main public space, adjacent to the first municipal park… on Fahad Al Salem, every merchant family in Kuwait competed to acquire spots to flaunt their businesses, and consequently, land speculation… fueled the credible myth as (the street) as the most expensive mile on the planet.” Here are aerial shots of Fahad Al Salem, from Bader Shaiji, the article Kuwait’s Modern Spectacle by Farah al-Nakib, the Digital Archives of the Middle East.

Fabbri continues, “for a decade, (Fahad Al Salem) became Kuwait’s badge of modernity, depicted in all the postcards, official publications, and international magazines illustrating Kuwait’s progress.” Fahad al Salem may be my favorite street in Kuwait, as “the past and present is so visible in many of the landmarks.” In this blog post, I have detailed some of the sites along Fahad al Salem, utilizing google earth and google maps, historic photos, photos I have taken between 2020 and 2023, and a 1976 map from the American Women’s League of Kuwait Yellow Pages Directory.

Most of the images below were found on eBay, Delcampe or Abebooks. The image that has the caption “Kuwait: Land that God Has Blessed” comes from Kuwait Philatelic.

From Jahra Gate to the Main Post Office

Al Jahra Gate: one of the gates of the old city wall that was torn down in 1957

Sheraton: as you can see on the map, near to Jahra Gate is the Sheraton, one of Kuwait’s historic hotels

Burj Building & Ministry Finance Oil: on the map above from the 1970s, they label the building near the Sheraton as “Ministry Finance Oil.” On the old postcard below, you can see that its adjacent building was named the Burj. As you can see on google earth, both were demolished between 2004 and 2008 and skyscrapers built in their place.

Here is a “then & now” you can see with the structures replaced by skyscrapers.

Souk Al Watiya: behind these structures, Souk Al Watiya was built in the mid to late 1970s. Not marked out on the map from the 1970s, it was under construction at this time.

Main Post Office: unlike many of the others, this building and the small garden patches in front of it still stand. The first photo below was taken by Ian Caldwell’s family in the 1970s and was shared by Mark at 248.

Thunayan Al-Ghanim Building: across the street is the notable Thunayan Al-Ghanim building, one of the most recognizable buildings on Fahad al Salem that thankfully stands today. According to Kuwait Modern Architecture, it was completed in 1959, was the first multi-story building in Kuwait, and was one of the first to have an elevator. You can see more photographs of the interior here. According to Iridescent Kuwait by Laura Hindelang, “in March 1969, Kuwait’s, and in the fact the Gulf’s, first art gallery opened in the iconic Thunayan Al Ghanim building on the roundabout leading to Fahad al-Salem Street with a show of works by Munira al-Kazi (Kuwait) and Issam al-Said (Iraq). The Sultan Gallery… would continue to show “modern young Arab artists” and sometimes also Western artists, such as Andy Warhol in 1977, to create networks of artistic exchange across the Arab world and beyond.”

Thunayan Al-Ghanim Building continued: I took the pictures of the building above in the spring of 2023, here are some old postcards and other photographs of it. The book Kuwait Today: A Welfare State, was published in 1964. The old postcards were found on ebay or delcampe. Some of the photographs come from this collection, this instagram account, Iridescent Kuwait, or Alarmy.

Souq Al Mutahida: behind the Thunayan Al-Ghanim building is Mutahida, which features the same interesting architecture as Souk Al Maseel

Salhiya Mosque: this historic mosque is behind Al Mutahida. Tom Chu visited Kuwait in the 1980s and took photos of mosques. Here is a “then and now” I created using Chu’s photo of Salhiya:

This photograph is interesting, as you can see the Thunayan Al-Ghanim (built in 1959), but the Sheraton or Ministry of Finance/Oil buildings are not there yet. Jahra Gate is not yet on the roundabout, it looks like people still drove through it at this time. You can see many traditional mudbrick buildings. In the upper right, you can see Salhiya Mosque.

From Salhiya Complex to the JW Marriott

Many historic photos of the street are of the view below; these images are largely postcards found on eBay or Delcampe, except for the black-and-white photo, which dates to 1961 and comes from Bader Shaiji and the final, which comes from Digital Archives of the Middle East.

Salhiya Complex: a luxury mall built in the 1980s. It is next to Salhiya cemetery, which is the the large green space on google maps. The cemetery has lovely murals painted on the exterior wall.

Anwar Al Sabah Complex: Abdulraouf Murad writes that the complex was built in 1960 atop a football field known as the Qibly Field. For many years, the deteriorating buildings stood in stark contrast to the adjacent luxury mall, but beginning in 2023, the structure was torn down.

Anwar Al Sabah Complex continued: I took the pictures above before the building’s destruction. Below you can see historic pictures, the second dating to immediately following the war.

Here are pictures I took of the Anwar al Sabah Complex between 2020-2023.

In a dilapidated condition for quite some time, the process of demolishing the complex began in 2023. I took these photos in October of that year.

The JW Marriot Hotel: next to Anwar Al Sabah is the JW Marriot. I took these photos in the fall 2020. A major renovation began in 2022.

Carlton Hotel: as you can see in these old postcards, across the street from the Anwar al Sabah complex used to stand the Carlton. It was torn down sometime between 2004 and 2008.

These photos date to 2015 and come from the flickr of Samira Zaman. This old structure appears to have been across the street from the Anwar al Sabah complex, near the Carlton. From google earth, it seems that the structure stood as late as 2020, but was torn down by 2021.

At the end of that block was this building with a checkered design. Homoud Tower has stood there since at least as early as 2003 (google earth doesn’t go back further).

Here are google earth images of that block, showing the destruction of the buildings over time.

From Al Muthanna to Al Rashed Complex

Al Muthanna Complex: this shopping complex was constructed in the ‘1980s. It is now largely empty.

Al Muthanna continued: before al Muthanna Complex was constructed, there was a school in that location. The historic photos come from the instagram of Bader Shaiji. The first is dated to 1961 and he writes, “1961: the most important and prominent street in Kuwait, on the right in the distance is Al Muthanna School.” The school is more visible in the last photo, which comes from the flickr of Hartmut Walter, who visited Kuwait in 1977. The last few postcards were seen on eBay or Kuwait Philatelic.

The Phoenicia: across from the Muthanna school used to stand a hotel known as the Phoenicia (marked as PH Hotel on the hand-drawn map above). As seen on google earth, it stood as late as 2004.

The block the Phoenicia was on was filled with architecturally similar shopping centers, leading up to the municipal park. Here are different old postcards and photographs showing that street.

Here is a screenshot from google maps of this row of buildings in 2003 versus 2023. You can see how few remain.

Ali Bin Himd Mosque: as you can see from the aerial shots featured at the top of this blog post, there used to be tightly packed, traditional mudbrick houses in this area. They were slowly demolished over time, but this historic mosque was preserved. The second photo comes from this flickr album. The google earth screengrab is from 2018.

Al Mullah Saleh: across from that row stands this historic mosque. It appears in many old publications of Fahad Al Salem. Here are some “now and then’s” I assembled using old postcards.

The first photo below was taken by Ian Caldwell’s family in the 1970s and was shared by Mark at 248. You can see Al Mullah Saleh in the background as well as the “the building of the Knowledge Department.” Al Rashed complex stands there today.

From the Municipal Park to Safat Square

Municipal Park: according to “Kuwait City Parks” by Subhi Abdullah Al-Mutawa, the municipal park was formerly a public cemetery until it was designated a park in 1961 because of the city’s expansion. “The task of designing the public park in busy downtown Kuwait began in 1962 when most of the graves were removed.”

Here are old postcards of the park. The second to last photograph comes from Tareq Rajab and is dated to 1997

Souq Al Kabeer: across the street is this this brutalist souq, built in the early 1970s

Safat Square: mentioned in the Fabbri excerpts, it has traditionally been the main public space in Kuwait