The old buildings of Qatar

This page illustrates something of the older buildings and development in Qatar. It might usefully be read in association with the page looking at the history of the peninsula. A number of the photographs on this page are taken from the web site of the Qatar Embassy in Washington and are placed here under what I believe to be fair use, permission having been requested. There are also photographs from the web site of the Diwan al-Amiri in Qatar. In addition to these I have also been kindly directed to photographs on here and, from there found a link to this site, though you will find a certain amount of repetition on all these sites. These four sites have many more photographs than I have used here and I recommend them to those with an interest in the country.

I have also included photographs taken from a publication of the Qatar History Committee in 1977. My intention here is to show as wide a selection of old photographs as I can find in order to present a rounded picture of the immediate past of Qatar by the addition of what I hope will be an appropriate commentary. These photographs are a relatively limited resource at present, but I’m sure that, with time, more will become available and, if relevant, posted here. More probably, the State will make a concerted effort to obtain and record images from the past as part of its Museums programme.

Having said that, throughout these notes there are many of my own photographs scanned from 35mm Kodachrome transparencies I took mainly in the 1970s and 1980s, though they are not all individually dated. While they are usually not as old as the black and white and sepia images, they are sufficiently distant in time to record something of Qatar prior to its most recent developments. This colour photograph, for instance, was taken in March 1975 at al-Zubarah and shows what I recall as being the only part of a building of any significance still standing. In the background can be seen the military fort with its westerly extension to the right, later taken down. Regrettably I have no knowledge about the building and what its use might have been – though it may well have been a part of the building shown above it in 1960.

Where possible I have put dates to the notes and photographs based on a number of considerations. Some of the photographs had dates associated with them, but I have discovered that they have not always been accurately ascribed. Because of this I have had to make assumptions. Please be aware of this in reading the notes.

Finally, I have found it difficult to make this a logical essay; it will have to move backwards and forwards in time, location and type of building. My apologies for what follows…

Despite the foregoing, it is intended that these supporting notes will constitute a form of essay based solely on the photographs, hopefully tying them together in a manner that makes sense. There is a warning: I have corrected some previous mistakes I have made and I have corrected mistakes made by others, both in dating and in mirroring some photos as well as attributing incorrectly. It has been difficult dating some of the photographs and I may have made errors despite inspecting them as closely as possible. Because most images were small, this may have given rise to mistakes on my part. I hope not. I should also apologise for the uneven quality of the photographs. I have improved them where possible, but I have not attempted to create a similar look to each as, in doing so, I would have lost detail.

While the illustrations here are all photographs, there is some evidence from earlier days of how some of the urbanisations looked. In 1823 a ‘Trigonometric Plan of the Harbour of el-Biddah’ was published. It included not just a plan of the bay but also a sketch of the two towns of al-Bida and al-Doha. The sketch shows housing at al-Bida on each side of a square fort with circular corner towers situated near the sea. To its east there is a circular watch tower set back from the sea and, to its east, the housing of al-Doha around another square fort, this time having only two circular towers and one square tower. To its east there is another circular watch tower and, to the west of the fort there is a large building which appears to be a mosque. It may be significant that there are more boats pulled up on the foreshore at al-Doha than there are at al-Bida.

These first three aerial photographs – the first photograph above and these two below – are here because they are the earliest I have seen of any part of Qatar. The first of them is of a part of Zubarah, the ancient development in the far north of the peninsula which was an important settlement for centuries, being the focus of interest for many of the families in this part of the Gulf. The photograph immediately below it was taken in 1960 and shows that there were some buildings still standing to first floor level. By the early 1970s these had all gone and there is little or nothing there now.

This second aerial photograph is of Doha, taken from the south-west in 1937, and shows the settlement at that time to have been a relatively small urban development arranged round the wadi Musheirib, leading to the sea and where boats were brought through the shallow waters to serve the town that had, by that time, become the most important settlement in the peninsula. Note how the development stretches east along the littoral to feriq al-Salata where Sheikh Abdulla’s original settlement had been made.

The third photograph is of Rayyan and was, I think taken from the south-west though at a steeper inclination than that of Doha. The photograph of Rayyan shows it to have been a much smaller settlement in 1937. It is today, and was then, the main area in the peninsula which the al-Thani family favoured for their settlements. Here you can see how the families dispersed around the arable land in that area, particularly grouping themselves next to the large enclosed structure which can be seen in the centre of the photograph. There appears to have been excavation in the area, but I have no idea what it might have been. All three photographs were taken in 1937. Bear in mind this was only seventy years ago at the time of writing – just two generations…

The photo of Doha, two above, clearly shows the three reefs off the old jetty and demonstrates that the jetty had not yet been constructed, the boats being pulled up close to or onto the land. The structure in the foreground is the old Turkish fort, known as the Kuwt. The road to Rayyan leads out of the bottom towards the left hand corner of the photo and the wadi Musheirib from the bottom right.

This aerial photograph is likely to be one of the earliest photographs taken of urban settlement in Qatar. Its particular interest is that it shows the relationship between the two settlements of al-Bida and al-Doha sitting on the coastline. In the nineteenth and twentieth century the sea here was known as the Bay of Bida, suggesting the pre-eminence of the settlement at al-Bida. But by the time this photograph was taken it is obvious that Doha has become the larger urbanisation with development on the higher ground west of the wadi sail and, to a larger extent, on its east side, the wadi being the centre of what is now suq waqf, a common pattern for settlement development where roads follow the lines of water courses. Between al-Bida and al-Doha sits a fort approximately where the Diwan al-Amiri now stands. The likely reasons for there being more development to the east of the wadi sail than the west may be two-fold. Firstly it appears from the photograph that the coast is more suited to drawing up fishing and pearling craft than it is to the west and, secondly, that the Ruler of Qatar, Sheikh Abdullah bin Jassim, had developed his compound on feriq al-Salata, to the east of this photograph, illustrations of which can be seen further down the page.

This aerial photograph, said to have been taken in the late 1940s and from the south-east, shows more clearly the setting of Doha in its relationship with the West Bay. The jetty at the end of the wadi Musheirib can be clearly seen with, at its northern end, the end extension that returned towards the east not yet constructed. More clearly, the three small reefs are identifiable as is the shallow land on the left of the photograph, east of al Markhiya, with the southern tip of jazeerat al Safliya just glimpsed in the top right hand corner of the photograph. For comparison with both photographs, here is a photo of Doha taken in 1959. The photograph clearly illustrates how Doha and al-Bida were accessible by water, but with significant shallow waters to the west and reefs immediately opposite the centre of Doha’s suq. The shallows were dredged in the nineteen seventies to create the New District of Doha, the reefs were used to form a base for extensions to the jetty developments.

The lower of these two photos is a detail of that above. It is included in order to show more clearly the relationship between the suq, the maqbara, the Kuwt and the open air prayer ground in the lower left corner of the photograph, as well as something of the texture of the residential and commercial development of Doha’s centre. It is a good illustration of a typical Arab town and its ad hoc expansion. Note that the maqbara is now the location of the car park associated with the redevelopment of suq Waqf.

While not overtly a demonstration of the old architecture of the peninsula, I have included this photograph as it gives an indication life in Doha in the early nineteen-foties. It shows a camel being loaded at the port, presumably the area immediately north of the suq, now referred to as suq Waqf. To the left of the photograph is the end of a temporary building that appears to be a barasti construction with a pitched roof.

The photographs above illustrate something of the character of Doha which lived on until the early nineteen-seventies when the whole of residential accommodation was demolished. To give an even better indication of the texture of traditional housing, here is an earlier photograph of the al-Sharq area of Doha, situated on a promontory north of the old development of Sheikh Abdullah bin Jassim on feriq al-Salata, a small peninsula subsequently incorporated into the port area.Note here the pattern of reefs protecting and constraining the use of the littoral, and the fish trap to the west of the end of the peninsula. The present area known as al-Sharq is around a kilometre south-east of the area shown here, across Doha’s east bay.

Here is a view of Doha taken around the nineteen-forties and shows the urban development with feriq al-Salata in the foreground. The al-Sharq development can be made out in the bottom right hand corner of the photograph and Sheikh Abdullah’s complex would be out of picture on the left. The sprawl of Doha can be seen at the top of the photograph with the jetty stretching out from the end of the suq development. Note the shallow waters edging the littoral, and how development tends to cling to the shoreline.

This photograph must have been taken around the same time as those above and is looking around south-west across al-Sharq and feriq al-Salata. In this photograph the masjid in the foreground is the dominating feature of the urban development. It is a simple building, very much in the wahhabi tradition that produced architecture which lacked ostentation but created beauty through simple lines and proportions. The building can be seen in both the oblique and plan photographs above it. It is interesting to see how close to the water’s edge the masjid has been built, as well as to observe the simple nature of the housing.

Doha was overflown again in 1952, this aerial photograph having been taken from approximately the north-east. While the detail is not easy to see there are some features that are identifiable, even at this scale. The open space in the centre of the photograph is the central maqbara with, to its left, the Kuwt, or Turkish fort. The new palace of the Ruler can be seen standing by itself just above mid-centre and, running along the coastline to its right, is the old town of al-Bida. Where the coastline runs out of picture on the right can be seen the masjid al-Qabib. The old suq al-Waqf can be seen between the sea and the maqbara. Out of picture, below the aircraft would have been the old palace of Sheikh Abdullah bin Jassim at feriq al-Salata. It can be understood that Doha was, at that time, at least three separate conurbations spread along the sea edge – al-Bida, Doha and al-Salata.

This photograph is another found one, attributed to the Ministry of Information but having no date associated with it. On inspection it seems to have many similarities with the photograph above, which was taken in 1952, and I suspect this may have been taken on the same run. The reason it is placed here is that it has a rough quality to it which seems to accord with the character of the architecture of that time. It also clearly illustrates two of the main sikkat leading to the main suq and port at that time. The wadi Musheirib runs horizontally towards the top left of the photograph, the Turkish Kuwt fort just above it and adjacent to the maqbara.

A detail of the above photograph, this shows the centre of the suq in a little more detail. The wadi leading to the sea is clearly seen with the main shopping area to the far side, west, of it. In the left bottom corner is the masjid. The wadi is now the paved road through the centre of suq Waqf, and the masjid remains in the location shown. The suq extends north approximately as far as the old police station of the nineteen sixties, and boats have access right into the suq, the masjid being around 330 metres from the present shore line.

This aerial photograph was taken in 1954 and is said to show a part of the outskirts of Doha at that time. Inspection of the photograph suggests that it was taken looking more or less south, though I have not been able to work out exactly which part of Doha it shows. There is the beginning of a road leading out of the photograph top left, and a maqbara is cut by the bottom edge at its centre. The housing plots are generally orthogonal and laid out in the same direction – with one large, single exception near the top centre – and the spaces between the boundary walls are relatively narrow suggesting they were established in the nineteen-fifties. All the buildings are attached to boundary walls which also suggests the same time period.

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Fortified structures

The Ottoman Empire established a fort in 1880, the Kuwt, above the centre of Doha in order to control this strategically important port on the east coast of the peninsula. A small force was garrisoned in the Kuwt, but left with the signing of the protection agreement of 1916 between Great Britain and Qatar. Subsequently the Kuwt was used as a prison for a time, this first photograph of it, being said to have been taken in 1945 or the early 1950s, depending on which source you look at.

The second photograph, taken from approximately the north-east, is not of great quality, but is included as it shows the internal form of the structure. A detail of a photograph taken in 1952 it illustrates how the accommodation is built into the walls of the fort. The line to the right, outside the fort, is the wall surrounding the central maqbara, now the site of the parking area adjacent to suq Waqf.

While the Kuwt had its origins in the need to defend the commercial centre of Doha and was later used as a prison, it also became the location for some of the armed guards who patrolled the suq at night, a service paid for by the merchants who operated there. Here two of them pose to be photographed in June 1972. I understand that there were also less formally dressed guards living above the shops in the suq, perhaps a less expensive option for the merchants as they might also be employed in the shops by day. Their dress suggests that at least the guard on the left is not a badawi, though that on the right may be, guards traditionally being found from among the badu.

The Kuwt was constructed on rising ground south of the suq. The form is similar to desert developments in that a surrounding wall gave protection to an arrangement of rooms inside it. Inset in the walls and defensive towers there are fat’ha al murakaba, small holes in the walls which allow protected viewing and some ability to use small arms against attackers. You can also see on the photograph a number of mirzam designed to throw rain water away from the building, in this case also allowing some of the function of the fat’ha al murakaba.

However, although I have located this first photograph here in the context of Doha as it is officially labelled as being the Kuwt, I am certain the photograph actually shows the fort at Zubarah as there are significant differences between the two buildings. Compare it with the photograph above of the Kuwt in Doha and, particularly, with the two photographs below it, the first of which is taken from a similar angle, from the south, though from a greater distance. The lowest of these photographs shows the Zubara fort from the north-east. The white marks in the centre photograph are likely to be patching to cracks in the walls, suggesting that the photograph was taken in the nineteen-fifties. The Zubarah fort was constructed around 1938 in response to concerns for deteriorating relations between Qatar and Bahrain. It was used both as an outpost as well as a prison. Neither of these photographs are to be confused with the fort that was constructed immediately outside the town of Zubarah, known as Murair, a fort constructed by the ’Utub in the eighteenth century, designed to protect the town from sea-borne invasion, and now ruined.

The above photographs can be compared with this one, taken in March 1972, and looking at the fort from the south-east. At that time it was being used by the police or military and had been extended to around twice its original size in order to contain a more useful garrison in what was considered to be at that time, a politically sensitive area of the peninsula. The evidence of modern aerial photographs is that this extension no longer exists and that the fort has been reduced to its original form and functions as a museum.

As you can see, the two fortified structures above are relatively small and would not have been able to house, protect and sustain a sizeable military garrison and their associated administrative personnel. Here, however, are photographs of two larger fortified developments.

This is a rare photograph of the fortified development at al-Wakra. Constructed by Sheikh Abdulrahman bin Jassim over a hundred years ago, the photograph shows the development on the left with, on the right, the four bays of the iwan of Sheikh Abdulrahman’s masjid. The photograph was taken looking from the east and shows the development in considerable ruin. I don’t know the date of the photograph.

This photograph was taken in the nineteen-fifties and is of the fort at al-Wajbah, west of al-Rayyan and the setting for a famous battle between Qataris under the command of Sheikh Jassim and the Turkish occupying forces. Constructed in 1882, the walls are substantial and incorporate within them a number of two-storey structures. Outside the protection of the walls there is a building very close, suggesting that it was constructed at a time when there was no longer a concern for protection.

The above examples of fortified structures are mainly distinguished by a surrounding wall within which there are separate or attached buildings to house the personnel living within the forts. The surrounding wall has corner towers both to strengthen that part of the wall as well as to enable observation and enfilading fire if necessary. But there were other types of fortified buildings in the peninsula and that at Umm Salal Muhammad north-west of Doha is a significant example. This photograph of the structure were taken in 1956.

Umm Salal Muhammad is a small settlement in the centre of the country and is different from most of the other urban developments in Qatar for that reason. Its climate is drier than the conurbations on the littoral, and it has a gardened area of date palms with ground crops beneath them supported by a reservoir of water contained by a small dam. Around this resource a coalescence of residential development grew up as can be seen in the photographs. However, compared with Doha and Wakra to its south, Umm Salal Muhammad was relatively poor and, to some extent, this demonstrates one of the differences between the badu, interior settlements, and the trading and fishing settlements on the coastline. This development was constructed by Sheikh Muhammad bin Jassim bin Muhammad prior to the First World War and there is an obvious connection to the architecture of the Nejd.

In the flat landscape of this part of the peninsula the development contains a tall tower which permitted anybody in it to see some distance and give warning in the event of attack. In addition to the residential development there is also a tower to the east of the town which, I believe, was constructed purely for this purpose.

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Development in Doha

The area of old Doha in the centre and adjacent to the sea, is the area of feriq al-Jasrah, now some distant from the sea due to the creation of two roads running east-west, first that trimming the edge of the sea and, later, the installation of the Corniche. These two photographs were taken in 1945 from buildings fronting onto the west bay of Doha in feriq al-Jasrah. The first looks approximately north-west, the second approximately south-east. Behind the buildings in the first photograph, the rise on which the Diwan al-Amiri was constructed can be glimpsed with the littoral of the west bay moving north to the right of the photograph. In front of the buildings in both photographs can be seen the unpaved foreshore with, in the lower photograph, a rowing boat drawn up. Small craft enabled the larger boats to be unloaded and their goods brought straight ashore to the houses of the merchants living by the sea. I believe that the building in the lower photograph belonged to the al-Mana family. Behind the lower buildings can be seen the masts of abwam in the main harbour of that time.

This photograph was taken in the 1950s and shows a building which is said to have housed British residents, perhaps associated with the British political presence of the time. The building shows the influence of Bahraini architecture in its simple trabeated form. The open nature of the façade and front wall shows it would not have been lived in by a Qatari family. The decorative treatment in the angle between columns and beams is simple but refined, enlivening the rigid orthogonal architecture of the building.

Al Jasra street was the name of the road that was constructed along the frontage of Doha’s centre between the central suq and the Clock Tower roundabout with its associated development. The buildings above fronted onto this new road. The first photograph shows how the road appeared in 1956, the photograph looking approximately south-west. The old Customs House with goods stacked in its yard is on the left, adjacent to the Police Station out of picture, and I believe that the development to its west is the Al Mana house from which that family carried out its commercial business. The lower photograph was also taken on Al Jasra Street, this time in March 1972 and from a position on a parking bay at the right hand edge of the first photograph. Qatar National Bank can be seen on the left and the Diwan al-Amiri can be seen behind the small mosque at the end of the street.

This next photograph was taken a month later, in April 1972 and looks west down the full length of al-Jasra from Jabr bin Muhammad Street with the Diwan to be seen in the top right corner. Government House is just out of picture to the right and, on the left there is a sub-station behind which was the animal market. The brown single storey building was the fish suq al-samak, or fish market and, behind it was the two-storey Central Post Office. Incidentally, although I have called this street al-Jasra, I believe it is now known as Abduallah bin Jassim Street.

A year later, in 1957, this photograph illustrates the link between the enlarged jetty and the suq, as well as the prominence of the merchants’ properties that lined the old littoral, and on which the al Jasra Road was constructed. Note how the sea is being filled to create more, and valuable, land as well as getting rid of the irregular shore line and shallow waters. Tied up to the west side of the jetty can be seen lighters or barges used to transport goods from the large ships standing out in the roads to the shore.

This aerial photograph was taken in 1947 according to the date written on it, and looks down on Doha from the south-east. Comparing it with the square photo six photos above, suggests that it might be earlier than that as the latter shows a constructed jetty. Perhaps it is more likely that the above photograph was taken later than was reported in the source from which I took it. At that time the wadi from the hinterland brought water through the suq in winter but was also the main access route through the suq to the sea and jetty. This is a common system for the location of routes not only in the Persian/Arabian Gulf, but elsewhere in the world, though has the disadvantage of creating difficulties in the rainy season both for those using it as a route as well as for those living and working immediately adjacent to it. This was certainly the case in Doha where winter rains caused significant problems.

This aerial photograph of the centre of Doha was taken in 1949 and looks approximately south or south-east over the developing centre. The Kuwt, the Turkish fort established by the Ottomans to control Doha, can be clearly seen and in front of it the main maqbara for Doha. A little way to the right of the Kuwt can be seen the open air eid prayer ground surrounded by a low wall. The dark diagonal line across the top of the photograph is, I believe, a track leading to the important development of Wakra and on to Umm Said, where development was starting relating to the export of oil.

I had thought this photograph was also taken in 1947, but now believe it was a little later, perhaps 1950. Taken from the north-west, the covered suq can be seen to the west – left – of the wadi with the main maqbara behind it. At the south side of the maqbara is the al Kuwt fort. On the sea front can be seen some of the compounds of the major merchants of Doha who had established themselves near to the shore where their goods were landed. There are more detailed photographs of this area on the Gulf architecture page.

The fifties saw the beginnings of development along Doha’s foreshore. This first photograph is from 1955 and looks south-west towards the rise on which the Diwan al-Amiri was developed on the site of Sheikh Abdullah’s complex which can be clearly made out on the higher ground behind the dhow. On the left of the photograph is the manara of the Sheikhs’ mosque.

The first of these three photographs of parts of Doha was taken in 1958, and is of the site where the Darwish offices were constructed at the north end of the suq with the dhow jetty to its north and the Police station to its west. There is evidently considerable building activity with a stockpile of concrete blocks in the foreground. Interestingly there are also two prominent piles of mangrove poles, normally used in traditional buildings as danjal or floor joists.

The second photograph was taken in 1960 looking over Doha to the north-west. The old palace compound of Sheikh Abdullah in feriq al-Salata can be seen to the right silhouetted against the sea. Behind it is the area in which Doha port was developed in the nineteen sixties and later. One interesting aspect of the photograph is what appears to be the beginning of structured residential development to be seen in the right foreground of the photograph, though much of the rest that can be made out follows old tracks. In those days, of course, there would have been little commercial development in these areas, most being concentrated in Doha’s central suq, though there were local shops providing a service reinforced by travelling salesmen selling everything from water and oil to clothing, materials, brushes and the like.

The third photograph is a detail of the second and shows a group of residential compounds in feriq al-Hitmi. The compounds, being on the outskirts of the feriq are relatively spacious and well developed. One or two of the compounds incorporate covered verandahs, but it is surprising to see so many rooms without them. Note that there neither two-storey development as there was at al-Wakrah, nor any badgheer to be seen, indicating that this is was not a well-off area.

There is more written about this particular photograph of a building on one of the Gulf architecture pages, as I now believe it to be a significant and important structure. The photograph was taken in the 1950s and appeared on the cover of a booklet published in 1977. I believe the structure to be the al-Qubib masjid, also known as the Qassim bin Muhammad al Thani masjid. If I’m right, it was demolished and another masjid took its place, also known as the al-Qubib masjid or, more familiarly as the ‘pigeon’ masjid, itself also demolished. The term qubib refers to dome structures and, as you can see, the masjid must have been the first, if not the only, early masjid to incorporate domes over its musalla. Just as impressive is the gadrooning applied to the top of the manara. This would have been the view south-west from Al Ahmed Street.

I am unsure as to whether this photograph and the next two below are of the al-Qubib masjid, though they are two of the earliest photographs of Qatari architecture I have come across. Compare this photograph with that above it, this being taken looking, more or less, north-east and appearing to show a feature on top of each cupola that seems not to be present in the upper photograph. Moreover, the top of the manara appears to be different in that it appears to be taller in the upper photograph. Nevertheless, the south-west corner feature of the masjid is clearly defined, along with the haunching at ground level, as is a run of pointed arches on the south wall of the courtyard. There appear to be ventilation openings at a high level of the musalla as well as the standard maraazim to shed water from the roof.

Here is another view which includes a masjid with domes across its roof. This time the masjid appears to be the same one as that above it as can be seen in the enlargement in the lower of these two photographs. The upper photograph was taken by the German traveller, Herman Borchardt as he was travelling through the Gulf in the winter of 1903 and Spring 1904. The view appears to have been taken looking west or south-west from feriq al-Salata where there are a variety of boats, notably the bateel and baqaara prominent among them, drawn up and propped along the foreshore. The al-Qubib masjid – if it is that – stands out in the background with little construction of a similar height to be seen around it. The masjid must have been an impressive sight in those days. The masjid was located east of the centre of Doha and west of the palace complex of Sheikh Abdullah bin Jassim.

Fifty years later, this is how the al-Qubib masjid looked from the air in 1952. Taken from a larger image, the photograph lacks a little clarity but it shows that a large building, most probably a majlis, has been built outside and to the east of the north-east corner of the of the masjid. The building can be seen to have four bays suggesting that it is larger than the usual constructions which reflected the normal span of their supporting beams at three bays. The sea shore occupies a similar position as it did fifty years previously and a number of buildings outside and to the south-east have been built or developed into two-storey structures.

Interestingly it was noted that there were considerable problems caused by the rains damaging houses in Doha, and that it was only the al-Qubib masjid that was able to provide protection from the rains. The masjid was rebuilt in its second phase in 1878, its design having come about from Sheikh Muhammad bin Jassim travelling to Zubara to confront those who had taken goods from people under his protection. There he saw a domed masjid and, on his return to Doha, had a design based on it constructed by the architect, al-Halimy, but twice the size. The view of it in the photos above would, therefore, be the expanded version of it.

Here is an aerial photograph displayed to the public on the fencing around the Municipality building, late 2011. Reading it, together with the photograph immediately below, would suggest that it was taken at the end of the 1950s or the early 1960s. The edge of the bay has been filled to the east of the country craft jetty and a small road created. Although this image is too small to see, the Vegetable Market, Shari’a Courts building and Ministry of Education have been constructed but the General Post Office and Fish Market have yet to be built to their east. The Darwish Fakhroo office have not yet been constructed. The outline of the Diwan al-Amiri appears to be in place, as is the road arrangement from the Rayyan Road around the Diwan, the Grand Mosque and Clock Tower.

I would guess that this aerial photograph was taken in the early to mid-1960s. Doha’s suq waqf and the fishing jetty are off to the right. The long building is the Ministry of Education, the building to the right or west is the Shari’a Courts building and the building on the left is the main Post Office. On the left of the photograph is a part of the animal market separated from the Post Office by a road. Note that there are buses parked on the road beside the sea as well as boats drawn up. The land here has yet to be filled and Government House constructed on the left where the small local craft sits in the water. Compare this photograph with this below.

This is another of the aerial photographs displayed to the public on the fencing around the Municipality building, late 2011. In this photograph Rumaillah Hospital, Government guest houses and the Guest Palace have been built as has the Diwan al-Amiri development. Land fill from the country craft jetty to the east, in front of the site on which Government House would be constructed, has not yet started which would place the photograph at around 1965.

This photograph is of the Shari’a Courts building, viewed from the north-west. Constructed in the 1950s it owes its architectural style obviously not to local traditions but to the Western colonial architecture being built in hot and humid climates. Having said that, the brise soleil were, and are, a sensible way of creating a degree of privacy, stopping sun striking the inner skin and spaces while allowing air to move within and around the building.

The Central Post Office building was an important step in the organisation of communications in the State. This photograph of it would have been taken in the late 1960s or early 1970s and is of its north-east corner, taken from the road. Its entrance can just be glimpsed. The surrounding wall to the right, which also wrapped around the west side of the building, contained post office boxes as there was no delivery system in the State, all mail either being picked up from the keyed boxes or, in the case of the larger commercial and government organisations, being picked up by messengers.

The first of these next three photographs was taken in 1968 of the centre of Doha and shows that about one hundred metres has been added to the shoreline at the north end of the suq. You can gauge the distance to some extent by comparing the relative positions of the graveyard – the large open space in the top right of the photograph above. At the north end of the wadi Musheirib you can see, just left of centre, a large construction which was the offices of the Darwish Fakhroo family, one of the country’s major merchants. The beginning of the jetty development can be seen at the foot of the photograph.

The second photograph was taken a year later and is labelled as having been taken from the roof of the Finance and Petroleum building – originally known as Government House – in 1969. In the distance on the skyline the manara of the Grand Mosque can be seen and, to its right, the Diwan al Amiri, its north end being the blank wall with four openings in it in which, I understand, two similar residences were to be constructed. In the middle of the left edge of the photograph can be seen the Darwish headquarters building.

This third aerial oblique photograph, taken in October 1972, which looks south-east over the north end of the suq. The large office building in the left foreground is the Darwish Fakhroo main office with, I believe, a pumping station in front of it and, with its west end on the edge of the photograph, the recently constructed vegetable suq. In the right foreground is the central Police Station behind its security fence. Behind them is Doha’s main suq with the structures covering the internal sikaat clearly visible on the right.

With Doha’s road infrastructure starting, the first major new building was constructed by the government based on its need for offices to house the administration increasingly required to run the country. A number of smaller offices were built to house the new Ministers and their necessary operations, such as the Ministries of Education, Public Works and Electrity and Water, but a larger, central facility was perceived to be necessary.

Government House was built, I believe around 1967 or 1968, on the newly reclaimed land, north of the old corniche or littoral that runs behind it in this pair of photographs, apparently taken on the same run. Behind the old corniche can be seen the General Post Office, Ministry of Education and the Courts building to the right of Government House and, at the right edge of the photograph, the curved structural roof of the vegetable market. The first of these two photographs, looking approximately south-east, shows the shore a little to the east of the two photographs above it, as well as the end of the small jetty constructed to ease the moving of goods ashore from the dhows and straight into the suq behind it. The second photograph gives another view of this part of the centre of Doha with the east bay overlooked by feriq al-Salata and feriq al-Hitmi visible in the background.

To contrast with the above photographs, here is one that gives some indication of the character of activity in the port in 2005. In the nineteen-seventies the port was only able to take four ships at a time and, with the amount of materials being brought in to feed the escalating economy, there were always ships out in the roads waiting their turn to berth. Now the port has been enlarged but the same pressure is on the port authorities to bring materials in and have them dispersed rapidly.

This photograph was taken in 1954 and is said to show the beginning of construction of the port with gabions forming the main structure and rocks being dumped to form the main structure. Looking carefully at the photograph it appears to have been taken from west and is of what was later known as the dhow jetty, the jetty which was established immediately north of suq waqf, Doha’s main suq. I believe the domes of Qassim bin Muhammad al Thani’s masjid can just be seen on the left of the photograph, though I admit that I can’t spot its manara. What is particularly notable is the shallow depth of the sea at this point, a reminder of the dredging that was to come about twenty years later.

The dhow jetty was crucial to the running of the country. Goods were brought ashore in Dukhan and Umm Said directly to their own small jetties, those goods relating to the oil industry but also including staples for those living and working there. But the majority of the country’s goods were carried into Doha from the dhow jetty either directly by dhows travelling from ports within and outside the Gulf, or by lighters used to tranship goods from, usually, ocean-going vessels that were too large to approach the shore – the waters near the shore in Doha being relatively shallow. It was not until the construction of the new port and the cutting of a deep water channel to it that this problem was overcome. In the first photograph, taken in 1954, the new jetty can be seen to have gates at its entrance with either a soldier or policeman on duty on the right. In the second photograph a dhow with its lateen sail up manoeuvres towards the jetty. The photograph was probably taken in the later 1950s or early 1960s.

One of the favourite forms of passive recreation in the early days of the State’s development, was the cinema. Mostly visited by expatriates, performances only took place at night as the first cinemas were roofless, a relatively inexpensive way of creating a cinema, though one that was affected by external noises, such as produced by aircraft, as well as creating noise for those living nearby.

This photograph of the cinema in Qatar Petroleum Company’s camp at Dukhan gives a good idea of what the larger ones looked like. In operation they worked well enough, following the usual pattern of advertisements, trailers and the main film, but with a break in the middle of the film in order for the audience to go out and buy refreshments from the stall outside. Expatriates, particularly women, were restricted to seats within an area cordoned off at the back. The cinemas in Doha were well used, though there was one notable problem, that of heat gain of the surrounding blockwork walls from the setting sun. This caused anybody sitting on the back row to feel uncomfortable, if not sick, from the low frequency radiation from the south or west facing wall.

The nineteen-seventies saw serious competition in the recreation market for cinema goers. Bearing in mind that cinema was and is an extremely popular operation in Egypt and the Indian sub-continent. The Gulf Cinema was constructed at Najma, directly feeding from the ‘C’ ring road, just off the bottom of this photograph which looks directly north. It is interesting to see how there was still much undeveloped land behind the cinema, that the tall blocks were relatively low by modern standards – restricted to six floors at that time – and that there was still a small farm operating.

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The oil industry

This first photograph, taken in 1949, shows people working on establishing the first jetty at Umm Said. The development of a deep water port at Umm Said was necessary as it was impossible to bring tankers in to the shallow waters of the west side of the peninsula where oil had been previously discovered around Dukhan. Umm Said sits just north of the sand dunes that link through to Saudi Arabia and become, eventually, the Empty Quarter, but was identified as suitable for developing a port for ocean-going tankers, particularly with selective dredging. The photograph has a tanker of around 10,000 tons deadweight sitting in the roads outside the port and awaiting the loading of crude oil as can be seen by its riding high out of the water. The second photograph was also taken in Umm Said, this time in 1956, and shows the development of a pipeline along the shore there. Note that it is significantly larger than those pipelines in the photographs above and below it.

Contemporary with the first photograph is this of a pipeline being laid across the peninsula from Dukhan where the oil was being pumped out of the ground. The pipes are relatively small which suggests they may be feeders to the main cross-country pipeline, but the landscape is flat and more in keeping with the centre of the pensinsula whereas the land around Dukhan where the feeders were situated, is more heavily modelled.

The fourth of these five oil industry related photographs was taken in 1948 and shows one of the first drilling operations in the desert. The photograph illustrates the beginning of the industry that drives Qatar’s economy. Note the scale of the rig and equipment from the size of the crew on the left.

The nascent oil industry was considered a hardship posting for those who were sent to Qatar in order to establish the systematic abstraction of oil. The peninsula was bleak in those days and there was little support for the workers, everything having to be imported with some difficulty. Here, at Bi’r Zikrit on the west coast above Dukhan, goods were craned onto a lorry standing on the simple jetty there with, in this case, a local audience in attendance in 1948.

This aerial photograph, looking south-west, was taken in the early 1970s, I believe, and illustrates the jetty at Umm Said from which oil was pumped to ocean going tankers standing out in the dredged channel giving access to the jetty. As you can see, there was little in the area even though there had been activity there for fifteen years or so. The mid-1970s saw the first government apartments being constructed there, a similar design to those constructed for Intermediate Staff in the New District of Doha. In the background can be seen some of the smaller sand dunes which stretched past Umm Said and, south, Khor al-Udaid to become part of the Empty Quarter of Saudi Arabia.

To round out these few photographs of the beginnings of the oil industry I’ve added two more photograph, the first of a pipeline in the desert and gas being flared off near Dukhan on the west of the peninsula as it was a feature of the desert since the middle of the last century when oil was discovered under Qatar. For those travelling round the desert this was a relatively common feature of the west side of the peninsula. The pipelines were used by badu to guide and pen their animals, as well as to cross and move along them on the tracks created by the security organisations to guard them.

Here, the road from Umm Bab on the west side of the peninsula has pipelines adjacent to it, one of the ways to police and maintain the lines carrying the vital oil across the peninsula to Umm Said. Note that the pipeline is not straight but zig-zags in order to accommodate expansion and contraction. This character of road was typical of many of the minor roads in the north and west of the peninsula right into the nineteen-seventies. In fact, some of these roads were just oiled tracks, the oil bringing a degree of cohesion to the surface and character of the track. Like old Roman roads, they tended to be set in straight lines from one small hill to another, a potentially dangerous but natural practice as the bends come at points where drivers will be unsighted.

North of Umm Bab, Dukhan was the centre for the oil and gas industry on the west side of the peninsula. But at Umm Bab, a cement plant was established in order to provide the cement foreseen to be necessary in the physical development of the country. Qatar National Cement Company was established in 1965 with the construction of the plant in this photograph capable of producing 100,000 tons per annum, production beginning in May 1969, three years before this photograph of it was taken.

Before looking at the next group of photographs, you should be warned that there are a small number of discrepancies relating to their dating. Because of this I have had to suggest some dates by the appearance of the buildings, some of which are very difficult to make out due to the condition of the photographs. However, the next photograph is the earliest I have found of the Diwan al Amiri site.

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The area around the Diwan al Amiri

Prior to the Diwan al Amiri of the nineteen-sixties and seventies being constructed, there was a more traditional group of buildings sitting on its site. As mentioned below, Sheikh Abdullah bin Jassim moved from his site on feriq al-Salata to this location around 1923, eight years after the Turks had left. The move perhaps signifying an increasing amount of work on the affairs of State as well as an opportunity to expand into a larger grouping or palace. This first aerial photograph, said to have been taken in the early or mid-1940s and looking approximately south, shows the foreshore with boats drawn up at its lower edge and the road to Rayyan leading out on the right edge. Sheikh Abdullah’s complex can be seen centre right with, centre left, the Sheikhs’ mosque and, to its left a development that was used both as a residence and majlis. The second photograph is of the same development, seen from the east, with the Sheikh’s mosque bottom left, and the third photograph is a detail of the second in an attempt to show a little more detail. What is significant about the first and second pair of photographs is that there appear to have been a number of buildings in the mid-1940s photograph which have disappeared in the 1952 photograph. The lower photographs seem to accord with the photograph below, said to have been taken in 1945.

Notice, in the two photographs – those immediately above and below – that the area around the complex is relatively free of buildings, perhaps a courtesy or requirement of those days when the ownership of land was of considerable importance to families. Though, with time, other compounds of close members of the al-Thani family grew along the Rayyan Road. This photograph, incidentally, shows the old Sheikhs’ mosque on the right and a building on the left used by the Royal family. Originally occupied as a majlis by Sheikh Hamad bin Abdullah al Thani it subsequently was lived in by Sheikh Abdulaziz bin Hamad before becoming a residence for the British Advisor, Phillip Plant and his wife, Aziza. In 1957 it became the residence of Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulaziz al Mana at the behest of the then Governor of Qatar, Sheikh Ali bin Abdullah al Thani, being passed on to his son Sheikh Abdulaziz bin Ali al Mana who used it as a majlis. In 1977 it was renovated and converted to become the headquarters of the Arab Cities Award.

In a relatively flat peninsula, the land on which the Diwan al Amiri is situated appears significantly higher than the land to its east, the area in which the suq was established along the wadi leading to the sea and with which Doha grew, mainly to the south and east. To the west of the raised ground was the historic urbanisation of al Bida, itself situated on a continuation of the low scarp.

I understand that there used to be a Turkish fort on the site of the Diwan al Amiri. The site is certainly a sensible one in terms of its strategic location as from there it would have been possible to monitor activities both in Doha to its east and Bida to its west, as well as movements on the track leading to Rayyan and Wajbah. The Turks had, in fact, landed at al-Bida in 1893 and Sheikh Jassim had responded by moving to al Wajbah. So, establishing a stronghold on the Diwan al Amiri position would have made strategic sense.

Movement by Sheikh Abdullah to this site may, therefore, have fulfilled two objectives – firstly a political one in removing a visually domineering reminder of Ottoman rule and, secondly, appropriation of its commanding position for his State and personal use. If this is correct, by extension the Kuwt may have been retained for its use which was, during the Ottoman presence of 1872 to 1915, a fortified prison. It was also the location of a Bazaar Master who was responsible for the safety of the suq, providing armed guards by night.

I am not yet able to say anything about the character of the Turkish development on the Diwan al-Amiri site. If this was a fortified structure similar to the Kuwt in Doha or at al-Zubarah, I don’t know, though it might be sensible to believe that it was a sizeable development, large enough to contain a significant garrison to protect their interests in the peninsula. I had thought that the fortified wall and corner tower that exists at the southernmost part of the Diwan al Amiri site, adjacent to the Rayyan Road, was it, but this photograph, taken from the side of the Sheikhs’ mosque, and looking north-west, shows the development on this corner of the site in 1945 and is not that similar to the above-mentioned forts. The second photograph appears to have been taken some time later than the upper photograph, and shows a little more of the detail of the east wall. The photograph is ascribed to Sheikh Ali bin Abdullah who ruled from August 1948 to October 1960.

Compare the two photographs above with the third photograph, taken in 1958, which shows a view looking north-east from the Rayyan Road with a fortified wall, large entrance gate and, now, a circular corner structure on the south-east corner of the Diwan al-Amiri development. The west side of the Sheikhs’ mosque can be seen beyond the corner tower, on the right, its mihrab right on the edge of the photograph. There is another photograph of this corner of the complex, below, taken two years earlier in 1956.

This photograph has been included here for three reasons. Firstly, it shows a group of companions of Sheikh Abdullah bin Qassim al-Thani, the Governor of Doha from 1906, the date of the death of his father, and who became the Ruler of Qatar in 1916, abdicating in 1949. These were a group of trusted men who customarily accompanied him, acting as his aides, bodyguards or helpers. Interestingly, the word describing them, lakhoya, is a local Gulf word that is now used for a special branch of the police force.

The second reason is that the photograph illustrates what is apparently an important doorway. It appears to be the door that can be seen in the centre of the middle of the three photographs above. It is noticeably of a scale that is grander than the old residential development of Sheikh Abdullah bin Qassim al-Thani at feriq al-Salata, later to be developed as Qatar National Museum. My guess would be that this entrance leads to the more private parts of the development, the north end containing the more public or State elements.

Despite its apparent importance the decoration around the doorway is unusual in that it seems very much understated compared with some of the work that went before it as well as later. It is not possible to read the central panel but it is likely to be headed by a religious statement and incorporate information about the building. The steps indicate that it is intended as a pedestrian entrance with no vehicular access, and the door and frame are very heavy timber elements designed in the traditional manner.

In 1956, it was evident that there was quite a lot of the construction in Doha concentrated around the Diwan al Amiri in an attempt to consolidate this important development with the newly designed road system. Here you can see both the mosque under construction on the right with the Rayyan Road between it and the Diwan al Amiri on the left, the Rayyan Road leading left out of picture. This view looking north shows the Rayyan Road leading west and, straight ahead, turning east past the mosque and entering the Clock Tower roundabout, just out of sight behind the mosque.

Above, in the first photograph in this area, there is a masjid on the road that leads from the end of the Rayyan Road diagonally towards the left of the photo as well as leading on to the central Doha suq. This masjid was known as the ‘Sheikhs’ mosque’, as I imagine it was associated with the members of the Royal Family making their homes in the area to the south and west of Sheikh Abdullah’s complex. This photograph was taken of it in 1946, immediately after the Second World War. The photograph looks north-east over the sahan of the masjid towards what later became known as the Ruler’s jetty. Note the relative simplicity of the architecture which appears to reflect the wahhabi character of the peninsula.

Sitting on its prominent rocky outcrop west of the main suq, and mid-way between the suq and the old village of al Bida, this photograph was taken from the north-east, looking from the Ruler’s jetty. The photograph is said to have been taken in 1950 and shows a relatively traditional development, though one that was larger than anything else in the State at that time. You can see both in this photograph and those below it that, although there is a rock jetty perhaps intended to give access to slightly deeper water, boats were being drawn up onto the foreshore behind it.

Here are a number of slightly different views of the development on the Diwan al Amiri site, this time taken in 1954 and 1955. The first two photographs were taken in 1954 and show the northern part of the development looking, on the first photograph almost due west and, in the second photograph north-west from a slightly closer and higher viewpoint. On close inspection of the photographs, they appear to show the buildings as being recently completed though the land around it has not been finished other than having been levelled through immediately adjacent to the buildings. There seem to be no people in and around the development as might be anticipated for buildings relating to the head of State, which suggests that it might not yet have been occupied in its entirety.

These two photographs were taken a year later, in 1955, and show a little more of the development, the first looking towards it just west of south. The towers of the eastern fortified wall can be seen on the left of the photograph, but there is also what appears to be a square tower on the right or west side of the development. I am not able to say if this was there before Sheikh Abdullah removed to the site, or if this was constructed after his arrival. But there is also more development to its west which suggests that the tower was there first and the western development was added later when there was perceived to be no further need for a defensive structure. The second photograph is labelled as being also 1955, and states that it records the return of Sheikh Ali bin Abdullah al Thani, though where from is not stated.

These two photographs, of a group of four, appear to have been taken around the same time and I had at first thought them to be the same image; close inspection suggests they are not, particularly if you look at the boats in the water and the shadows cast by the building. The first photograph with its wider view gives a little better context of Sheikh Ali’s complex on its promontory, and its relationship with the sea. The lower of these two views of Sheikh Ali’s complex and, I assume the first, was taken around 1956 and shows the whole of this important grouping with the palace complex on the right and land I believe belonging to the Darwish merchant family on the left. The jetty, later known as the Ruler’s jetty is cut by the bottom of the photograph. The Sheikhs’ mosque can be seen as can the Clock Tower. The covering of the boats suggests that the photographs were taken in the hotter period of the year.

This photograph is also said to have been taken in 1958 though I believe it more likely to have been 1956. I have included it as although it seems to have been taken from a similar perspective, it was taken in the morning and is a little clearer than the photograph immediately above which was photographed in the afternoon. The Clock Tower can be glimpsed on the left edge of the photograph.

The lowest of these four photographs is a detail of the second photograph showing the double staircase entrance to the Diwan, a feature of the Municipality building constructed a little later. At the far, south, side of the complex there are watchtowers or fortified towers incorporated into a protective wall which can be seen in some of the photographs lower down the page. The beginning of the Rayyan Road can be seen turning round the south-east corner of the complex before heading directly west, right, to Rayyan.

The date given to this photograph is 1957. It shows a number of interesting things happening to and around the area of the Diwan al-Amiri. At the top of the photograph, the Grand Mosque is being demolished, its manara still standing. On the left, east, the Clock Tower and its roundabout have been completed and in use and the Diwan al-Amiri itself is under construction. The external walls of the Diwan have been completed but the internal partitioning has yet to be added as can be seen through its arcaded façade, and the run of offices on the first floor of the west side has not been constructed. The bottom left corner of this photograph just touches the existing shore line, the external works to the east of the Diwan appear to be in progress as is internal construction to its west. There is another photograph lower down the page illustrating this area, probably taken earlier in the same year.

In the first of these three photographs, the complex is seen two years later in 1960, this time from the south-west. The west wall of the fort can clearly be seen along with three of its fortified corner towers. The main entrance gate is from the south which leads into the first courtyard. It is difficult to make out but the next courtyard has a number of more traditional buildings constructed around it. The Ruler’s jetty is more prominent than it would become when land was reclaimed and the Corniche driven between it and the Diwan al-Amiri site. The Clock Tower can be seen as can, right on the edge of the photograph, the manara of the Sheikhs’ mosque.

The second of these three photographs shows a little of the development of the south-east corner of the first courtyard, though the photograph appears to date from the nineteen-seventies by the look of the Grand Mosque.

The third photograph, apparently taken from the manara of the Grand Mosque, looks straight into the south-east corner of the southern courtyard of the Diwan al-Amiri or, perhaps more accurately, into the courtyard of Sheikh Abdullah’s development of the site. Note the traditional buildings, centre right, that are located within the inner courtyard of this development. The corner of the first Diwan al-Amiri can be glimpsed on the right edge of the photograph.

This photograph, a government postcard, shows the Diwan al-Amiri looking approximately north-east in 1966. The manara of the older Grand Mosque can be seen to the right with the top of the Clock Tower to its left. The gardens of what was to be the south and main entrance to the Diwan al-Amiri have not been started and the surrounding fence is still under construction. In the foreground is a row of single storey buildings which, I believe, were taken down and two-storey constructions erected in their place incorporating police and fire brigade facilities. The Rayyan Road moves out of picture to the left.

This photograph illustrates almost the opposite view from that above. It appears to have been taken from the top of the manara of the Grand Mosque looking south-west and shows the east end of the Rayyan Road, south of the Diwan al-Amiri. I believe the photograph would have been taken around 1970. The south gardens of the Diwan al-Amiri are seen on the right, and the buildings on the left were the central Police and Fire Brigade Stations separated from the Rayyan Road by parking. The building in the centre of the photograph is that of Ali bin Ali which also housed their cold store supermarket, popular with expatriates and in competition with Darwish Cold Stores east of the Diwan al-Amiri. To the right of this building is the entrance to the Doha palace of Sheikh Suhaim bin Hamad Al-Thani, uncle of the present Ruler, with a mass of trees in its courtyard.

The next two photographs have been used in the context of construction in the middle of the twentieth century on another page where you will find a little more information. Here they are included because the building formed a part of the enclosure of the area in front of the Sheikhs’ mosque and Sheikh Abdullah’s complex. This building, used as the British Political Agency in Doha, occupied a site on the east side of the area, facing west over the site of the Clock Tower to Sheikh Abdullah’s complex and with Sheikh Hamad’s majlis and the Sheikhs’ mosque to its south-west. The first photograph was taken in the early 1950s, possibly 1952, the second as the building appeared in 1963. The architecture has resonances of Sheikh Abdullah’s residence at feriq al-Salata in its trabeated construction as well as its plan form of central rooms with surrounding verandah. Note the small features in the junction between beam and columns, adopted from the local design vernacular. The third, colour, photograph is of the same building, looking down on it from the top of the manara of the Grand Mosque in 1972. It shows that little has changed on the façade in the intervening years other than its now being used by the Qatar Government.

In order to give some idea of the context of the Political Agency building, this photograph shows the south-east corner of the important grouping of buildings in 1958, comprising Sheikh Abdullah’s complex on the west, the Sheikhs’ mosque and Sheikh Hamad’s majlis on the south, and the Political Agency on the east. The Clock Tower can be seen in the foreground with the manara of the Sheikhs’ mosque top right. Sheikh Hamad’s majlis is the white building directly above the Clock Tower, and the Agency building is on the left of the photograph, the east side of the area. Incidentally, note that the riwaq or iwan of the mosque is two-storied.

This first photograph was probably taken around the nineteen sixties or even seventies, as there are street lights in evidence. It is a view from the British Political Agency building north towards the West Bay of Doha over a storage area belonging to the Darwish family. The building on the other side of the road and on the left of the photograph was, or became, Qatar Cold Stores, a retail outlet for groceries. On the right is the manara of a small mosque which I believe was constructed by the Darwish family. All that area was eventually taken by the government in order to construct the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the nineteen seventies. The dhows are standing off what was known as the dhow jetty the end of which can just be seen. The second photograph was taken from a similar angle, looking north-east, but from the manara of the Grand Mosque. Qatar Cold Stores and the small mosque can be seen in the lower left corner of the photograph, taken in 1972. The third photograph, taken at the same time as that above, looks over the suq towards the Gulf Hotel in the distance with Ras Abu Aboud power station chimneys visible against the horizon top left. The Darwish Fakhroo offices are in the centre of the photograph and Government House is on the left edge.

The nineteen-forties saw the construction in Doha of the first State hospital, the initiative for developing medical care in the State being taken by Sheikh Hamad bin Abdullah al Thani. The building was situated close to the sea for health reasons, and to the east of the Darwish compound that was located next to the Clock roundabout, itself east of the Diwan al-Amiri. The roof of the hospital can be seen on the right of the photograph above.

In the first of these next three photographs the hospital is seen under construction in 1945. This is the same building that is shown on the bottom left edge of the second photograph, taken in 1957, opposite the small masjid. The first photograph illustrates how close the sea was from the rising ground leading up to the Diwan al-Amiri at that time, and before it was land-filled for later development. I believe that the sea was filled to a distance of one hundred yards from existing land ownerships, but that the government acquired the right to drive a road along the line of the former shoreline – the road in the second photograph running between the hospital and the small masjid. There was also a small road between the hospital and the Darwish land to its west. The bund or jetty from which the first photograph was taken would have been out of picture at the bottom of the second photograph, a little way to the east of the masjid. Comparison of the two photographs illustrates the process of land reclamation over the twelve year period, the process later continuing westwards to reclaim land north of the Diwan al-Amiri site and, later still, the Corniche being driven along the edge of the West Bay to establish a ceremonial thoroughfare while creating a hygienic and clear edge to the littoral.

This third photograph was taken looking approximately south-west, and appears to have been made after the construction of the small masjid which can be seen in the foreground just right of centre, but before Qatar Cold Stores was built behind it, which would place it some time before 1957. The hospital can be seen on the left of the photograph in front of the manara of the Grand mosque.

The hospital is said to have begun as a single storey building, though the photograph of it above appears to show its construction as two storeys, built around an internal courtyard. At a later date there were extensions made to it under the auspices of Sheikh Ali bin Abdullah al-Thani, particularly on its north-east corner where operating rooms and other facilities were constructed. Designed to be a general purpose hospital it had thirty rooms and was the place where many mothers gave birth to their children, easing the problems associated with home births.

The nineteen-fifties saw the development of a much larger hospital, illustrated below, at Rumaillah bringing with it a wider range of capabilities. The old hospital was given over first to the isolation of chronic and infectious diseases and, by the early nineteen-seventies, to long-term care for orthopaedic and psychiatric patients.

This first of these four photographs is of the Sheikhs’ or Ruler’s mosque and is said to have been taken in 1957, probably early in the year, looking west and showing the jum’a masjid for Sheikh Ali being constructed. Known as the Sheikhs’ mosque, the photograph is also interesting for the numbers of people around. It is difficult to make out what they are doing, but I assume it has to do with construction works around the Clock Tower. Note that this appears to be a rebuilding of an earlier manara as it can be compared with the photograph above which shows a much simpler structure.

The second photograph shows what appears to be the completed building, this time viewed from the south-west, the Rayyan Road visible as it skirts the mosque before straightening out to run west towards Rayyan. The south-east corner of Sheikh Abdullah’s complex would be immediately to the left of this photograph. Note the vertically ribbed decoration to the top of the mihrab and its flat dome capping, similar in design to that which caps the top of the entrance porch on the east side of the building.

This next photograph is a view of the Sheikhs’ mosque, stated to have been taken in 1956, apparently from the first floor of Sheikh Ali’s complex. It appears that this and the two photographs above it need to be reversed in date, or at least in order. The area between the mosque and the Ruler’s complex can be seen to have been given some degree of design organisation with a small garden having been laid out and planted. The area in front of the majlis on the left has been given over to car parking at a time when there would not have been many cars on the roads.

The fourth photograph of the Sheikhs’ mosque is dated 1958 and shows the final form of the manara, this being at least the second on the site. Interestingly the manara rises from a square base to an octagonal middle section on which a circular drum rises to a circular balustrading above which a conical cap is held on top of eight semi-circular headed arches supported by circular columns with, apparently, small capitals. The riwaq of the mosque has a very traditional and simple arrangement with projecting maraazim. The entrance porch seems slightly out of character with its elongated arch arrangements.

But it wasn’t many years before a new, larger mosque was required. Whether this reflected the increasing population it was now required to serve, or the need to produce a more modern design in keeping with the new Diwan al Amiri and Clock Tower development, is difficult to say, though the rationale is most likely to have had something to do with both. This photograph, taken in 1963, shows the body of the Grand mosque being constructed as a redevelopment of the Sheikhs’ mosque. Note that the older entrance porch has been retained, and that it has a design resemblance to the Clock Tower. This latter seems to have been constructed around the same time as the entrance porch to the Sheikhs’ mosque.

This photograph of the Diwan complex was said to have been taken in 1957, probably from the Darwish offices that were on that corner of the Clock Tower roundabout, but appears to be later than the 1958 photos shown above as witnessed by the growth of the ficus trees in the garden. If you compare Sheikh Ali’s complex on the left of the photograph, taken from the south-east, with the sepia photograph five photographs above it, you will see that some of the older development has been taken down and there are the beginnings of a heavy concrete structure being raised which will have been the foundations for an extension to the Ruler’s compound, the first Diwan al-Amiri. I don’t know when the coloured photograph was taken, but it shows that construction has progressed on the northern most part of the development and, I believe, that the southern part of the old complex is also being developed.

Incidentally, Darwish Engineering were responsible for the construction of the Clock Tower as well as for the ‘Marmar’ or Guest Palace, shown in this photograph, that was constructed in the early 1950s at Rumailla a mile to the west of the Diwan al-Amiri, though this photograph was taken twenty years later and is included in order to demonstrate the scale of the building and complex for those days.

This photograph should be read along with those above and below it. By 1962, when the photo was taken, the decision had been made to develop a different type of building at this point of the bay. This position located it between the settlements of Doha and al Bida, four hundred metres to the west of Doha, according to the British Admiralty’s 1864 Persian Gulf Pilot. The building type was extremely large compared with anything that had gone before it. Although it had a similar footprint to the building that preceded it – that being a large complex in itself – its style was significantly different as can be seen by comparing this photograph with those above. Constructed of concrete and with a definite influence from the Indian sub-continent it created a strong focus, its main entrance facing east over Doha. There are a number of interesting details in the photograph. There is considerable landfill taking place in order to produce what became the parking area for the Diwan al Amiri, the Clock Tower is completed, though its surrounding colonnade appears not to be, and the Grand mosque is under construction, the tower having been completed. The land on the left, east, of the photograph, belonged to one of the main merchants and the lighters show how goods were brought in from the ships standing out in the deeper water of the bay. Incidentally, it can be seen that the traffic drives on the right. I’ not sure when the change from driving on the left took place but it is likely to have been before 1962.

This aerial photograph, looking south-west, was taken of the Diwan al-Amiri development some time in the 1960s and shows that the filling illustrated above had been completed and the beginnings of what was to become the Corniche started. The Clock Tower roundabout has been linked to the Corniche and the Darwish compound can be clearly seen, delineated by a wall.

One of the main characteristics of the new Palace was its concrete construction. Its walls were extremely thick and the internal spans very wide. This would have been a significant novelty when compared with the traditional buildings which generally relied on timber beams, and even the new commercial structures which had much smaller spans than that illustrated here. This photograph, taken in 1962 shows, I believe, the Ruler’s majlis with its chandeliers, wall sconces and table lamps providing light, but ceiling fans creating air movement to cool in summer. The carpet is fitted and the peripheral seating with its associated tables is typical of majaalis arrangement.

To the west of the suq and its new jetty was constructed another place to berth local craft. Known as the Ruler’s jetty, it was built opposite the new Diwan al Amiri, a development originally made for the Ruler and his family, though not completed nor used as such. For quite a time the jetty was utilised by the police as a base for their marine activities. This photo of it was taken from the tower of the Grand Mosque, under construction in 1962, and shows at the bottom of the photograph, a part of the roundabout below the mosque incorporating the Clock Tower. Parking is set out for the Diwan al Amiri whose front porch can just be seen to the left of the photograph. It is notable that the ground between the sea and Diwan al Amiri is not finished and I would be interested to learn what was intended as it would have been difficult to soft landscape it. It is likely that a hard landscaping solution would have been sought, with trees in small planters to break up the paving. The Diwan al Amiri was originally built for the ruler, Sheikh Ahmad bin Ali, but not completed before the accession of his successor, Sheikh Khalifa bin Hamad in February 1972.

Taken from the north-east, this aerial photograph shows the main entrance to the Diwan al-Amiri and, taken in 1972, possibly pre-dates the photograph above it from casual inspection of the works north of the Diwan entrance. This was the beginning of the programme to provide a parking area for those working in the Diwan. Although the building was developed on a commanding, prominent position, additional fill had to be brought to the site in order to provide a large enough platform for the car park.

The second photograph, taken in March 1972, shows the north face of the Diwan taken from the Corniche which was under construction but not finished when the photo was taken. The fill to the parking area can be glimpsed to the left of the photograph and temporary works belonging to the Engineering Services Department of the Ministry of Public Works, who carried out the work, are in the centre of the photograph.

The third, aerial, photograph, was taken in October 1972 and shows the Diwan al-Amiri from the north-west. I believe that the part of the development which is farthest north – prominent in the centre of the photograph – was originally intended as residential accommodation, but was never completed nor occupied. From its plan it appeared to have been designed as two mirrored units.

In these two photographs you see a view of the residential development, looking north-west over the top of the Diwan al-Amiri, viewed from the top of the burj of the Grand Mosque. Taken in February 1974, the photographs show that work is progressing in the two courtyards of the residential area and, in the lower photograph, gives a good view of the arcading with its ogee arches that characterises the Diwan al-Amiri complex. Beyond the development the Corniche can be seen to have been basically completed with the roads in use. The area to the left of the Corniche is the old housing of al-Bida, the original village on this part of the coast, with some two-storey residential units constructed on the filled area between it and the Corniche, soon to be demolished. The television station can be seen as the white building on the skyline left of centre on the lower photograph.

The first of these two photographs is likely to have been taken in the mid 1970s and shows that the area for parking cars in front of the Diwan al-Amiri has been improved and was more or less complete at that time. The second photograph was taken in March, 1976 and gives a better idea of the development of the reorganised car parking area and a staircase from it descending to the lower level opposite the Ruler’s jetty, flanked by two semi-circular retaining walls, their design apparently based on the half-moon battery of Edinburgh Castle. At the foot of the staircase is the beginnings of a landscaped area which was mainly there for aesthetic viewing rather than real use due to the requirements of security. The office of the Ruler occupied the corner of the Diwan above it.

This next pair of aerial photographs were taken a couple of months later than those above, in August 1976. In the first there appears to be a road access from the Corniche to a car park which leads to the upper level car park from which there is a feed out onto the road linking the Corniche with the Clock Tower. It appears to have been used, though I have no recollection of it. Work is being carried out to the south of the Clock Tower roundabout, The two storey Darwish offices which housed their travel bureau can be seen bottom right of the photograph and Darwish’s Qatar Cold Stores can be seen as the single storey development on the right of the photograph. It is evident that there are still storage huts on the Darwish site.

This oblique view of the north façade of the Diwan al-Amiri gives a much better view of the half-moon battery staircase with its access feed from the Corniche. Darwish Travel offices can be seen above them, and the residential wing of the Diwan al-Amiri can be seen to be unfinished and unoccupied to the right. Above the Diwan, the beginnings of six-storey developments, nearly all of them mixed offices and residential, can be seen springing up within the urban fabric of Doha.

This photograph again shows the Grand Mosque with its green domes and the minaret from which the photograph above was taken. This view of it was taken looking at it from the west with the south wall of the Diwan al Amiri to the left. The Rayyan Road runs on the right, parallel to the wall on the left but not shown on this photograph and separated from the Diwan al Amiri wall by a small fenced garden area. This area provided some visual relief to the area but was generally closed and treated as a security area to the Diwan despite this photograph showing a pedestrian walking through it.

The Clock Tower was and, despite the considerable new development, is still a very distinctive feature of Doha. Constructed on a small promontory in 1956 it, together with the old Diwan al Amiri and Grand Mosque, formed an important focus for what were some of the first new developments constructed with the proceeds of the increasing oil revenue. The main masjid and Diwan al Amiri represented the secular and religious faces of the new Doha. This photograph of it shows it under construction but before the surrounding vaulted canopy was built, the pair of structures forming on plan, a representation of a star – the Clock Tower – and crescent moon – the vaulted canopy, one corner of which can be glimpsed in the photo of the entrance to the Diwan al Amiri and its car park above. With the construction of the first road along the north face of the suq, a number of merchants constructed the first modern offices in Doha, the Darwish family having an office immediately adjacent to the Clock Tower and on its south-east corner. This area has now been cleared but, at that time, it represented the strong link there was between the merchant and ruling families.

The road at the top of the photograph above, that shows the Ruler’s jetty, was constructed along the shoreline and led west past feriq al Bida and feriq al Rumaillah to the new hospital and fort which were located at Rumaillah. It also ran past the wadi Sail to the road which now leads to the north of the country where Umm Salal Muhammad, the fishing towns of Khor and Ruweis were located as well as Zubara, the town where the al Thani – the ruling family – originally settled in the eighteenth century, and which was recorded as long ago as the first century. It should be noted that the history of Qatar can be taken back as long ago as the fourth millennium BC. A fort was built outside Zubara in 1938 as a Police post and is now a museum similar to the Kuwt in the centre of Doha. Incidentally, the original road to al Khor followed the coastline, not the line it now takes further inland.

Here is a photo of the road in front of the Ministry of Education. It is likely to be contemporaneous with the 1957 photographs further up the page. The ministry was constructed as a two storey building immediately to the east of the centre of the suq with the Court of Justice between them. The road linked the Ruler’s jetty and the road to the north with feriq al Salata – straight ahead in this photograph. The interest here is in the road itself and its relationship with the water. Vehicles are parked next to the sea and people were able to move to and from the shelter and operation of the suq to the water’s edge.

The development of Umm Salal Muhammad can be compared with that at Khor, a much larger town and one based on pearling and fishing. The khor was a protected inlet of the Persian/Arabian Gulf and, on its sloping shores, the houses developed leaving room only for the fishing boats to be beached and nets spread out. The old town was demolished wholesale in the early seventies with the inhabitants being given ‘Public Houses’, a standard three-bedroomed house sitting centrally located in its enclosing, thirty-metre square surrounding wall. These houses were established on the periphery of the existing town and no plan was made for littoral part of the town when relocating the houses.

Here you can see a photograph of Medinat Khalifa, the new town which was developed two kilometres west of the existing edge of Doha. The housing was as described above and the character of the layout can be plainly seen. I have to say that, while there has been criticism of these layouts, to a large extent it was those who lived in the old housing who pressed for these new developments as they wanted to take advantage of the government’s generosity to obtain both land and a house. Of course they were not responsible for the form of the development which was considered, by its designer, to represent a rational form of housing. I have written more about this on the al-Salata page.

Here are two photographs of the old town of al-Wakrah, south of Doha, and looking north-east. The lower one you can see to be dated 1956, so it is evident that it had been abandoned by that date. However, I can recall people living there in the early nineteen-seventies, and making a small living from fishing, though many were moving to government employment in Doha.

From the evidence of what remains it appears that Wakrah was a relatively well-off town. Some of that wealth will have come from pearling. I don’t know why Khor should appear less well-off as I believe that pearling used to be its main industry. But the buildings at Wakrah, both in their arrangement and decoration, were some of the best in the country, though it is interesting to see that there is an arrish, a pitched roofed building which would have been roofed with palm fronds in the foreground.

Earlier I mentioned the town of Rayyan as being one of the centres of the al-Thani family. West of al-Wakra was another important al-Thani settlement, that of al-Wukair. Regrettably I have no old photographs of al-Wukair though there is one of Rayyan at the top of the page. I remember al-Wukair as being a relatively quiet town and only entered for the access there was through it to the nearest accessible sand dunes to Doha.

In the third, coloured, photo of al-Wakrah you can see one of its important features, the sand bank which created a natural harbour but which, I understand, slowly restricted its use. In fact, nowadays there is a long jetty to the right of this photograph enabling access to deeper water. I guess this photograph was taken in the nineteen seventies, though I am not sure. It certainly shows a dual carriageway road moving north-south and was the road connecting Doha with the industrial city and oil loading port of Umm Said.

In the first two photos you can see a little of the character of the buildings. There were many two-storeyed houses, most of them facing the sea and turning their backs on the west and its hot, afternoon sun and the shamal, protected by badgheer which allowed cooling winds to flow through the building and were capable of being closed in the event of rain or dust storms.

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Development at al-Salata

This next group of photographs were taken from two sources, one of them an old government publication on the Qatar National Museum. They date back to the 1930s and illustrate something of the old complex of Sheikh Abdullah bin Jassim bin Muhammad al Thani. Generally referred to as the ‘Old Amiri Palace’ the development was refurbished, mostly accurately and sympathetically, but with the addition of a new building and surrounding wall for security, to serve as the Qatar National Museum in the early 1970s. The site, and the buildings within it, are located with the long axis of the site approximately in line with the holy city of Mecca – a little south of west – and most probably a deliberate decision.

Sheikh Abdullah established the development east of the centre of Doha around the end of the nineteenth century. This period of Qatari history had much to do with the competing British and Turkish interests in the Gulf, one of the routes to the Far East, particularly the Indian sub-continent and China. The Turks established themselves in the peninsula with a presence on the high ground to the south-west of the Doha suq and residential development. The ground between the suq and their qal’at al askar was given over to a maqbara, I suspect a way of keeping relatively clear ground in front of their fortified position.

These photographs illustrate something of the character of the region at that time, with influences of both the Najd hinterland as well as that of the Gulf littoral where the influence of sea breezes and environmental considerations are reflected in the structure, character and detailing of architectural designs. In particular, this form of architecture integrates structure, environmental and decorative treatments to a considerable extent.

It should also be borne in mind that Sheikh Abdullah, as the Ruler of the country, was involved in affairs of State, commercial dealings as well as social and cultural issues. In this he brought to this development many of the social characteristics of the badu, creating a complex that, within a wahhabi tradition, would have been surprisingly open with women having considerable freedom within this complex.

Around 1923 Sheikh Abdullah left this development and moved to the other side of Doha where he developed a larger palace complex on the high ground overlooking Doha’s suq to its east and shown above. This group of photographs illustrate how the group was allowed to deteriorate. The first and third photographs were taken around ten or fifteen years after he left, the lower three most probably in the late 1940s. That above shows the western entrance structure to the compound and was located in the west wall adjacent to the majlis which was in the north-west corner of the complex.

This second, sepia photograph, an enlargement of a small image, is an aerial photograph taken from the north, approximately the reverse angle of the photograph above it. The photo shows the northern corner of the complex with the north and west gate structures clearly visible. By the time this photograph was taken, it is interesting to note that there is development relatively close to the eastern wall of the compound, presumably because Sheikh Abdullah had moved to the new development west of Doha. The photograph also illustrates the character of the complex with single-storey buildings contained within a surrounding wall and a tall, two-storey building at its centre where he and his family lived, other buildings being lived in by the families of Shaikhs Hamad and Ali, and supporting the life and work of Shaikh Abdullah.

Sheikh Abdullah developed his complex as a discrete compound, partly fortified with high walls and watch towers as was the custom in the region. In the centre were his family’s living quarters and, on the north-west corner a majlis or meeting room where he was able to carry out affairs of state as well as his personal business. In those days there was about a mile between the centre of the suq and Sheikh Abdullah’s development, situated at the north end of feriq al-Salata, the land traditionally belonging to the Sulaiti qabila. With time the development was enlarged to provide houses for his two sons, Sheikh Ali and Sheikh Hamad. This development served not only as his family’s home but, in the traditions of the area, as the centre of his work as governor of the peninsula, the Turks having left in 1916 and the British taking their place.

The first of these two photographs shows the palace complex of Sheikh Abdullah as it was in 1960 over some of its surrounding buildings in feriq al-Salata. The view, looking approximately north-west, shows something of the haphazard urbanisation to the south of the complex as well as its relationship with the sea. Many of the family who inhabited this feriq – as well as the feriq al-Hitmi, adjacent to and south of the complex – were associated with the fishing and pearling industries.

The central building in Sheikh Abdullah’s complex was a two storey formal structure, photographed here as it was in 1967. This was the family residence of Sheikh Abdullah, supplemented by a group of rooms arranged around the external wall of the complex and to the south of this building.

Constructed for Shaikh Abdullah in 1918 by the Bahraini master builder, Abdullah bin Ali al-Mail, its architecture based on contemporary modern buildings in Bahrain. Its design importance lies in its central location, a building of height to be experienced in the round, as well as in the logical disposition of its rooms around a central space on two levels, the lower having rooms or covered spaces, the upper constituting an almost continuous gallery. Its location within the compound together with its height will have allowed it to take advantage of the littoral sea breezes, in a similar manner to which the public, single-storied majlis, located in the north corner of the complex, was able to provide to those sitting within it.

This photograph shows the remains of the public majlis of the complex, the formal meeting room in which the men of the family would meet, discuss and make decisions on a daily basis. It was the public face of the Sheikh Abdullah. It appears to be relatively low due to the construction above the panels being missing. It was situated in the north-west corner of the complex, this photograph having been taken from inside the complex to the north-west. It is the nearest building in the square sepia photograph a little way above, and can be glimpsed in the photograph above that one over the entrance structure.

The form of the structure is plain to see and formed the basis of most buildings in Qatar. It is of trabeated, or column and beam construction, the columns being provided by hasa, desert stones set in a juss limestone mortar with horizontal timber beams between them. Elsewhere I have written about this in more detail. Decoration has introduced non-structural round-headed and ogee arches, but these are purely decorative and make no structural contribution.

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The central area of Doha

Even though traffic was not as heavy as it is now, the need to have a form of control was introduced in the middle of the last century and was demonstrated by a small number of traffic police located in the suq on small raised stands that gave them some form of protection as well as solar shading. This first photograph was taken of the north end of Musheirib street in either 1956 or 1957, depending upon which source you believe. Oddly enough, the sun shade appears to be slanting the wrong way and can’t have been that much help to the policeman standing there on duty. I can recall policemen on traffic duty in the early nineteen seventies but can’t remember when the system stopped. Recently this has been reintroduced, but I think it has to do with decisions on tourism relating to the centre of Doha and the reconstruction of the suq. In the background, the white building on the right is the Courts building.

The second black and white photograph above shows the junction – leading west and left out of picture past the central maqbara – further south in the suq, with a merchant’s property of significant scale demonstrating the relationship of road to the retail element of the building. The heights of the building’s storeys was a feature of these old buildings and was designed to maximise the amount of cool air that could be contained within the internal spaces during the day and night cycle. There is a little more to describe this on one of the Gulf architecture pages. I don’t know, but believe the photograph is also likely to have been taken in the 1950s.

The two photographs above suggest that traffic was a hazard in the days of its introduction and increasing use, though this would not be high by modern standards. The third, colour, photograph was taken in February 1972, and shows the same Police stand, this time unoccupied, and similar goods to the previous photograph still being sold in the shops behind. Note that, fifteen or twenty years later, there appears to be a similar casual attitude to walking on the road even though there is now a pavement constructed.

This photograph appears to have been taken in the nineteen sixties by the look of the women’s style of dress, and shows a part of the old suq in Doha on Wadi Musheirib and the character of the stalls facing the old street. It illustrates the relatively dilapidated character of the suq in those days. Incidentally, the women’s dresses were considered to be quite improper at the time but, regrettably, this was relatively common…

A little further down the street and, by contrast, this photograph of the Bismallah restaurant shows a new type of building to the country at that time. It appears to be one of the first of the concrete buildings being established in the country. The trabeated construction is evident, and the detailing has much to do with that of the Indian sub-continent. Open ventilation can be seen and the shaded verandah will also assist in keeping the building cool, something which is important as concrete buildings can be extremely uncomfortable. The introduction of electricity enabled restaurants such as this to install ceiling mounted fans which certainly helped cool the spaces.

One of the major commercial companies in Qatar was that of Kassem and Abdulla, sons of Darwish Fakhroo. Their headquarters were situated at the north end of Doha’s suq, opposite and east of the police station and directly accessible to the sea and the jetty. This black and white photograph, taken in 1954, shows their first offices, the structure being a simple development of the beam and column construction of traditional architecture, complete with danjal connecting the columns to provide them with additional rigidity and functional maraazim positioned over the columns. The 1950s offices can be compared with the more imposing structure the Darwish organisation built later, this colour photograph of it being taken looking approximately south-east at its main entrance. The ground floor was mainly taken up with a showroom of large pieces of equipment with most of the offices on the floor above. It reflected the growing confidence of the commercial operations in Qatar, other companies developing offices on a similar scale.

Suq Waqf street was the main road through Doha’s central shopping area. This photograph was taken in 1955 or 1956 and looks north-east along it, the road turning north at the end, towards the West Bay. The suq’s mosque can be seen centre left. Outside the mosque sat people mending shoes and selling household necessities such as traditional tooth brushes, along with scribes and their typewriters writing letters and legal documents.

This is a view north of Suq Waqf street taken in March 1972. If you look carefully you can see that the building on the left of this photograph is the same building as the one that appears over the oncoming car in the black and white image above. There are two notable features here. The first is that the shops have their ground floor levels raised around half a metre about road level due to the possibility of flooding along the wadi Sail, a continuing concern into the 1980s. The second feature to note is the large amount of maraazim on the older building.

The north end of the Doha’s suq ended, effectively, with the Central Police Station on the west side and the Darwish company’s main offices on the east, both of them two storey buildings and visible in the first of these two photographs. By March 1972 when this photograph was taken the suq was a mixture of single and double storey structures, though only the ground floors being used for retail purposes. In the first photograph the open area on the right was used mainly by taxis, the main method by which customers with purchases in the suq were able to take their purchases home. It was common to see a number of unusual goods in the boots and back seats of the ubiquitous Peugeot 404s plying the streets. The second photograph is a detail of the first. The Central Police Station is on the left – all government buildings flew the national flag – the first road running across the end of the suq is now called Abdullah bin Jassim Street, and the Corniche is visible with the old port, or traditional craft jetty behind it.

These three photographs, again from March 1972, show details of the west side of suq Wakf and were taken from the burj of the central masjid. The first gives a good idea of the character of the buildings that formed this part of the suq with single storey structures on both sides of the pedestrian route that ran parallel, and west, of the road. The first photograph shows the beginnings of taller development as a mezzanine level had been constructed within the building on the left, for storage.

The second photograph illustrates the two-storey development that was directly adjacent to and left of the buildings in the first photograph. It is difficult to know what was intended but the second floor contained both storage as well as, in some places, accommodation for expatriate staff operating the shops and providing an additional degree of protection to the goods in addition to those formally employed for that purpose.

These next two photographs, taken on an afternoon in August 1972, show a little more of the character of the shops that fronted the main road through the suq. The shops each had double folding wooden shutters to secure them and, generally, they were not enclosed or air-conditioned, improvements that slowly moved in during the 1970s. Note the relative lack of signs as advertising was not yet thought to be necessary, although later it became customary to add a sign with the owner’s name and his commercial registry number, usually given as ‘General Merchant and Contractor’.

The second photograph gives an indication of the numbers and type of people shopping in the late afternoon in summer. Most noticeable is the wide pavement. You can see that there is a large concrete addition on the outside of the pavement, this being the cover to the large drainage system that was taken along the wadi and through the suq to disgorge to the sea beside the traditional dhow harbour to the north of the suq.

Turning and looking south, from more or less the same standpoint as that used in the photograph above, this was the view in February 1974 and shows the building that can be seen in the old photograph above. The corner of the Bismillah restaurant can be seen on the junction just in front of it. The cars in the photograph are being diverted to the left to avoid the excavation works being carried out to repair the drainage system at the junction.

Round the corner, right, from this part of the suq was the central maqbara or graveyard. Opposite to it was that part of the suq that sold gold and jewellery and, further north, an area of workshops. These two photographs, both taken in April 1972, show the typical organisation of the shops and workshops in this part of the suq, with heavy double-fold doors secured by padlocks when the owner was absent. This particular part of the suq appeared to fabricate items to order as well as having a small supply of items relating to cooking outdoors for sale. This was also the area that sold large items such as suitcases and trunks, particularly metal. The lower photograph shows that the workshop appears to have specialised in kerosene lamps. The wall of the maqbara can be seen in the distance, the intervening land being used as a car park. This area, including the maqbara, is now all taken by car parking.

While the suq contained a number of retail outlets within its built development, one of its more significant characteristics was the range of commercial operations that were carried out on the ground within the suq and that created movement and interest for those moving in and around it. These four photographs show something of this range of activities.

These individuals carried out their trades or professions in the open, setting up in a spare corner and making their living from the sale of small items or through the application of certain skills.

The introduction of bureaucratic processes within the State required paperwork to be created for a number of different operations. Some of this was to do with the preparation of documentation necessary for legal reasons, but there was also the necessity to translate documents for those holding paperwork in languages other than Arabic. In addition, there was the need for many to have work written or typed for them due to illiteracy or lack of an ability to write Arabic. Much of this work was carried out by translators and scribes sitting near the institutions requiring this paperwork, one of the locations being outside the main mosque in the middle of the suq.

In the first photograph, taken September 1973, there are a group of scribes, sheltered from the sun by umbrellas, near the Shari’a Courts while they await clients bringing them work. The second photograph, taken in April 1972, shows one of the photographers working in conjunction with the scribes by taking portrait photographs necessary for some of the documents. Note the black backdrop cloth pinned up behind the sitter, and his informal position.

The third photograph, above, from July 1975, was taken outside the main masjid in Doha’s suq Wawf and shows a group making and mending sandals and shoes and associated leatherwork. Compare that photograph with the black and white photograph below it, taken in the 1950s, and illustrating how little had changed in the twenty year interval.

This area also sold miswaak and similar small items necessary for daily life. On a wider selection of provision, the fourth photograph, taken in December 1983, shows a small but useful retail operation where a small group of women have set up a stall on cardboard selling a much wider range of small articles. Again, this was not a novel operation, although the photograph illustrates a more sophisticated operation than that in the black and white photograph below it. Taken in the 1950s, it illustrates something of the poverty of the country at that time, where small items were bought and sold on corners of the suq in order for this woman to make a living, the probability being that she was a widow with nobody able to support her, or for her to be able to make a contribution to the family with whom she lived.

But it was not just items of trade that were bought and sold, there were also people who used their skills to provide a necessary service. Here, in a corner of Doha’s suq, a barber shaves a customer in an operation that is very different from those which developed over the next twenty years. Compare this street scene with that below, which was taken in 1972.

As Doha and the satellite urban settlements in the peninsula developed, there was a need not only for people to sell items and skills within those settlements, but also for materials to be transported around them. In this photograph, taken in the 1950s, a water seller using a traditional yoke across his shoulders, transports water in two tin cans around the suq prior to the installation of a piped water system. Bear in mind that, by the 1950s, the rising ground water under Doha was increasingly saline and not fit to drink.

Goods and services were distributed through the suq and into the wider communities using a number of methods. For the heavier loads there were porters pulling two-wheeled barrows as shown in this first photograph where three porters are pushing a heavily loaded cart across a road in the suq. In a photograph below, a number of the carts stand waiting for use south of the vegetable market at the north end of the suq.

Often the loads were taken by single porters carrying extremely heavy loads strapped to their backs as illustrated below with a porter carrying a very heavy set of crates. It was a common sight for porters to be seen standing, waiting for work, with their handling straps slung over their shoulders.

For longer distances donkeys were the beasts of burden, often piled with high loads. In this photograph, taken in 1972, a donkey is being ridden through the suq by its handler either looking for business or moving to an appointment. Note the wooden framework strapped to its side onto which goods would be secured. Donkeys were also used to pull carts designed to carry water or gasoline among other items for sale.

Although this photograph was not taken in the suq, but some distance south of Doha in March 1972, it shows a donkey pulling an improvised water tank to bring potable water to households in that area. The cart has been fitted with large vehicle wheels in order to allow the cart to travel over rough ground, such as this, in relative comfort. The driver sits far forward in order to maintain balance with the water.

But some of the work of the suq porters was less strenuous. Here a porter has been hired to help a customer walk to his house, the customer carrying on his shoulder food for the goat, known as jet, and the porter leading the goat by one of its horns. Note the winter clothing worn by both customer and porter, the photograph having been taken in March 1972.

Heavy goods were transported by porters and barrows but, with time, other types of vehicle were developed in order to protect and transport lighter and more precious goods. Here, on the ‘C’ road, a closed cabinet set on a tricycle fabricated from bicycle parts is being used to move goods around what was, at that time, 1975, the outskirts of Doha. It was a clever solution to the twin problems of protection and accessibility to residential markets. Note the refinement of mudguards over all wheels.

The mobility created by wheeled devices produced a number of vehicles designed by their owners to carry the goods on offer safely, as well as enabling them to penetrate the residential areas where their chief markets lay – often areas that were not paved and difficult to access. This photograph, taken in 1973, shows a man selling to the children sweets and the like from a cart protected by net curtains intended to keep out most of the flies.

Water was one of the main items to be transported, not just around the suq, but also around the residential areas which surrounded it. And there was also a perceived need for merchandise to be taken from door to door as women were not generally allowed to move outside their house unless accompanied by a male member of the family and, generally, men were responsible for buying household effects for which they would visit the suq on a daily basis, combining shopping with meeting friends, exchanging news and doing business. However, there was a need for women to buy items for their personal use as well as some of the necessities for household life. A number of travelling salesmen were a common feature of life, carrying their large bundles on their backs and unwrapping at each doorway in order to tempt the women – who would sit modestly behind the door – and bargain for whatever was needed. This was also a way in which the women of the household could keep up to date with news and fashions.

As might be expected, the shops in the suq had to cover the whole range of materials needed by those living in the peninsula and Doha in particular. As was the pattern with Arab and Muslim towns, the area was organised in a manner that grouped similar uses together. Those uses that created nuisance by virtue of smell or noise tended to be located outside the suq or on its fringes. Hence the area for the sale of animals was at the far eastern fringe of the suq and welding and steel work generally was moved by the Municipality to the outskirts of Doha, with the exception of one or two of the smaller units shown above.

There are some illustrations above which show something of the character of the suq in the early 1970s. In particular they illustrate the shops that lined the west side of the street towards its northern end. Behind them was an internal sikka or passage with a number of shops opening onto it on both sides. This was one of a number of joined sikkat that created an large area in which many different types of merchandise were sold. The sikka illustrated here was one in which cloths and materials were sold. Taken in 1954, the photograph shows how the sikka appeared when it was closed, the wooden shutters securing the merchants’ stock. The shops were built up above ground in order to deal with the rains that sometimes poured through the sikka as the barasti roofing, while providing a degree of protection from the sun and allowing some air movement, was unable to protect from the winter rains when the sikka could become a small stream. Here it appears to have a sanded floor, though I remember the floor in the early 1970s as being very uneven with, in the winter, large puddles despite it having been given a corrugated iron roof.

This group of four photographs illustrate some of the units that formed the suq.

The first photograph was taken in April 1972 and shows one of the internal sikkat of the suq. Once open to the elements, this narrow route was recently roofed with a corrugated iron structure in order to provide a degree of protection to the activities carried out below. Despite this the winter rains created problems on the unpaved path. These shops sold a wide range of materials which could be bought and taken home to be made up by members of the family or seamstresses in the neighbourhood, or alternatively might be taken to the tailors who were in the adjacent part of the suq and who provided a customised service.

The second is of one of the typical shops in the northern area of the suq that sold pulses and spices, both loose as well as, more expensively, imported in packages. The third photograph shows a shop that sold decorative illustrations for household walls, inexpensive jewellery, misbah, and decorative boxes. There were also shops that sold perfumes as well as shops selling tools and material for hunting and other requirements for the badu community. There was, of course, the gold suq that was well patronised by both locals as well as expatriates taking advantage of the high percentage of gold used in their products compared with other countries.

The suq was also the place to be shaved and have your hair cut. This barber’s shop has three mirrors of different sizes, always a popular feature for those proud of how they looked, together with a large display of pinups from the Indian sub-continent and a range of pomades, creams and powders on the worktop. These units were very popular in the evenings and Thursdays, prior to the week’s public appearances on Friday when many of the expatriate community would promenade in their best clothes.

Not all of the suq had this character of built environment. The majority of this development was confined to the west bank of what had been the wadi Sail as that had been where the majority of development had been traditionally, the east bank being reserved for beaching and unloading boats. This can be seen in the photographs above, taken some time in the 1940s.

This first photograph was taken looking due east from the main suq in February 1974. The Shari’a Courts building can be seen at the top left edge of the photograph. Across the centre of the photograph can be seen a new two-storey commercial building, but I can’t recall who built it. My recollection of it is that there was little commercial activity being carried out in the 1970s. This area developed over a thirty year period and, with the exception of the above commercial building, the general character of the development was poor with a significant amount of barasti covering it, the name in this case being used to describe not just palm fronds which were relatively rare, but canvas and other material coverings that were used to provide shade to the merchants and their customers as well as limited protection from rain in winter – though, without drainage, the area was a quagmire in winter. Nevertheless it was a popular destination and usually full with potential customers.

As you might anticipate from the hierarchy of markets, the character of the development differed across this area reflecting distance from the main suq. The part of this suq nearest to the road moving north through the suq sold similar materials to those in the shops to the west of the road – pots and pans, staple foods and the like together with some second-hand material – while, farther east, there were the larger materials such as charcoal and water storage jars as well as livestock in the form of chickens, goats and, on the other side of the Central Post Office, camels.

The old suq was always an interesting place to visit with its wide variety of items for sale, the smell of spices and the friendly stall-holders. But at night it was even more inviting, particularly in those parts of the suq which had limited electric lighting or relied on kerosene lamps. In this photograph, taken in 1972, the stalls are lit with bare electric tungsten light bulbs, a common method of lighting both in the suq as well in residential buildings, particularly their courtyards.

One of the more surprising characteristics of this area was the amount of the materials on sale. As can be seen in this photograph of the suq, taken in November 1972, there was a considerable number of aluminium pots and pans, trays and cutlery from the Indian sub-continent on sale as well as, though not in this picture, enamelled pans, mostly from China together with multi-coloured plastic containers. There seemed to be considerable activity in this part of the suq as well as in the main area to its west.

While the elements of the suq which have been shown in most of these photographs were in private ownership, the government took it upon themselves to provide three buildings for separate market divisions: vegetables, meat and fish. Here, in March 1972, is the vegetable suq photographed from the south-east. Constructed in situ it was completely open at the sides and had ventilation provided in its roof. Behind the building, the top of the Darwish main offices can be seen. Note the barrows in the foreground used by porters to move purchases around.

The two identical buildings constructed for the fish and meat aswaaq were rather different. Constructed as concrete frame and blockwork they had clerestory lighting and ventilation, but were both relatively dark inside. The building in which meat was sold was closer to the main suq than the fish market, the latter of which can be seen in the photograph above, while this first photograph, from April 1977, shows the arrangement inside with a waist-high concrete slab on which the sellers sat with their scales and the fish or, in the case of the other building, meat. At the entrances there were usually children who would shell prawns and carry customers’ purchases for them back to their car or taxi. The lower photograph, taken in March 1972, shows a porter carrying a very heavy load of crates while a young boy carries an armful of large paper bags.

There were also seasonal changes in the suq. The obvious ones had to do with the change in vegetables and fruit such as melons which would suddenly be found everywhere as every farm seemed to grow them, but the winter season was the hunting season. While the best hawks were moved around inside cars and trucks, there were usually hawks to be seen in the suq. Here, on a corner in November 1973, a group of men sit and talk with their hawks around them.

With increasing wealth and development, commercial buildings stretched out of Suq Waqf south-west along wadi Musheirib, their scale becoming increasingly larger to reflect the parcels of land acquired. From this street two commercial streets developed linking north with the Rayyan Road, Abdullah bin Thani street and Electricity Street.

I am unable to say when this photograph looking south down Electricity Street was taken, but suspect it to be around 1970. Darwish had a large store, ‘Modern Home’, on the right – with the ‘Rolex’ sign on it – distinguished in being the first two-storey department store. Generally the other shops on the street were relatively small though large stores opened on the road that linked at the end of the street with Suq Waqf to the east, al-Musheirib street.

The second of these two photographs is also said to be of Electricity Street, but I have the feeling that The Qatar National Travel offices, on the right, were not there, but on al-Musheirib street. Perhaps somebody would tell me if this is correct? The two storey mixed commercial and residential development was very typical in the early 1970s, and Qatar National Travel’s large neon sign illustrates the advantage being taken of the free electricity increasingly available within the peninsula.

Parallel with Electricity Street, and east of it, was Abdullah bin Thani street which had a number of small shops on it selling a wide variety of items, the most important of the shops to Europeans being a ‘library’ or stationers – on the right where the small bus is parked – which sold European newspapers and some magazines. Again, I am unsure of the date of this photograph, but believe it must be from the early 1970s.

This photograph, also likely to have been taken in the early 1970s looks along al-Asmakh street. On the left is the manara of the local masjid, this one a simple, attractive design, very much in keeping with the traditional architecture of the peninsula. On the right can be seen a sign for the clinic of Dr. Kalantar, a well-known physician at that time. Note the condition of the pavement which has been dug up for the placing of services, and the steel reinforcement sticking up from the roof of the buildings on the left, awaiting another storey to be constructed.

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Other development

Bearing the above structure in mind, for comparison here are two photographs of old houses in the centre of Doha which will have been constructed using that system. The rendered ground floor walls appear to be solid for the sake of privacy and security and, in the ground level walls where the render has come away, they can be seen to be solid masonry constructed of desert hasa or, perhaps, hasa bahri. But I think it’s more likely that the two storey houses have been built with the same column and beam construction, the outside wall finished flush without reflecting this. Note in the top photograph a small ventilation hole at the top of the ground floor to exhaust hot air. I should also mention that the use of solid ground floor walls contrasts with architecture in Bahrain and Dubai where there were often majaalis fronting onto the public sikkat that passed them by.

Inside, the structure would have been expressed, creating alcoves which are used both decoratively as well as functionally for storage, shelves or hanging items. Note the rounded corners of the first floor which show that the result of using random-shaped stones for masonry means that you can’t have a bonded, right-angled construction as you would have with rectangular blocks.

You can see the badgheer system operating at first floor level both in providing air to the enclosed rooms while safeguarding privacy, and allowing air to sweep onto the roof surface in the open roof areas. Rainwater is shed from the roof with mirzam. Note how many are used in an effort to shed the water quickly and prevent its build-up and the associated risk of penetration.

In the lower photograph the poles providing the structural foundation of the first floor have been allowed to project to their different lengths. Only in the houses of the better off would the poles be cut to a common length. By projecting the poles through the walls they provide a more secure structural support.

It is notable that there is no naqsh work to be seen as would be anticipated in good quality buildings. These appear to be the houses of ordinary merchants living in a relatively tight urban situation despite the fact that there appear to be relatively wide roads in front of both buildings, suggesting they would have been constructed in the 1950s.

I was under the impression that this photograph was taken in Rayyan, but now think it to be Doha. It would have been a relatively central area as the buildings appear to be two, even three storeys high. The photograph would date from about the nineteen-fifties.

Maritime tradition in the Gulf produced, over a period of time, the zuli affording a degree of privacy and protection from the elements for the crew needing it. Here you can see three or, maybe, four similar systems constructed on the first floor of houses with vertical stacks connected to them. I assume this was a development of the marine zuli, rather than vice versa as I imagine there would have been a need for the marine variety well before multi-storey development suggested a need. But, it’s only a guess…

It’s not possible to tell if they are plumbed into a drainage system. I would have thought that, at the time, the stacks would lead to septic tanks, but the fact that they are in a line and look as if they were constructed as a single development suggests that they might, in fact, be part of a proper sewerage system. Interestingly, I don’t recall seeing such systems above ground floor level, nor do I know when a sewerage system was introduced to Doha though there was work being carried out in the nineteen-seventies.

This photograph was discovered in the suq, but regrettably there was no way of identifying where it was taken. It is interesting in that it shows a relatively poor neighbourhood. There are at least four points to note in the photograph. Firstly, the width of the road is considerably wider than was traditional and certainly wider than the centre of the suq. To me this implies a later stage of development or, perhaps, a more littoral development. Secondly, the two retail units are built higher than the road by a considerable amount, suggesting that the area was liable to inundation, or at least that there was concern for flooding. Thirdly, the wall on the left has less juss to complete its surface from that on the right, which is a less expensive finish and, therefore illustrates a poorer neighbourhood. Fourthly, the building on the left has maraazim to lead water off its flat roof whereas the building behind it and on the left has material draped over its sloping roof, perhaps as a temporary solution to a roofing problem. It is typical in a sense of barasti development, and it is interesting to see that there is the traditional material used on the right to create shade, the supporting mangrove poles spanning the whole of the street.

Further up the page there are three photographs of the fortified structure in the village of Umm Salal Muhammad. The building is both a watch tower as well as protection for a considerable area of cultivation and its associated water source, a small dammed wadi adjacent to it. This photograph, looking east either from the tower or, perhaps, from the burj of the adjacent masjid shows, beyond the simple houses, the water source. On the horizon to the right, there is one of the Barzan towers.

The mid nineteen-fifties saw the development of a hospital at Rumaillah, north of the Rayyan Road. This first photograph, taken looking north-east, is of the hospital, built on the slightly higher ground and western edge of Doha in the fifties. It is obviously a concrete frame construction and owes its origins to the development of British architecture in the Indian sub-continent with its reliance on shading and cross-ventilation to create rooms which were relatively cool. It differed from the traditional construction of the country and, of course, it uses different materials and was designed to encompass a new scale and number of spaces compared with traditional architecture.

On the other side of the road can be seen the beginnings of residential development for the expatriates who were being brought into the country to work for the government in the oil industry, and the medical and the construction industries, particularly the engineering and utility services. Some of the housing was in two-storey traditional buildings relying on natural ventilation – soon supplemented by air-conditioning units – and seen in the first photograph, and some was in single storey bungalows seen at the bottom of the second photograph.

This second aerial photograph shows the hospital complex, this time looking down from the north-east. The curved road at the bottom of the photograph is the road leading to the fort, and the angled road at the top left of the photograph is the Rayyan Road, running east-west. Above the road, and in the bottom left hand corner of the photograph, is the British Embassy and Residence, now gone with the Diplomatic mission removed to the New District of Doha.

The third of these photographs is taken from a similar angle as that above it but shows that the government housing at the bottom of the photograph that was constructed for expatriates, has been taken down and the Guest Palace placed there. The entrance to the Guest Palace is the white structure in the lower centre of the photograph.

While the centre of Doha was developed and important structures such as the hospital built, housing was also changing. The first o these two photographs was taken in the 1960s and looks out across part of feriq al-Salata. The housing is courtyard in style with many of the structures having some form of decoration at the intersection of beams and columns. Some roofs are obviously designed to be used but, in the main, they are not and are just finished in the traditional manner. It is noticeable that there are no wind towers.

This second photograph illustrates the later housing development in feriq al-Salata that was common at its fringes where there was more land available for development and where the government instituted wider roads. Here the housing can be seen to enjoy tall ceiling heights, car ownership was more common, there were telephone lines appearing ̵ though as yet no street lighting, and children played on the streets. What is evident is the change in character between the densities of the urban environments illustrated in the two photographs.

While development within the Qatar peninsula was mainly focussed on Doha, other centres around the country also saw some development. The old centres of al-Khor, al-Ruwais and, later, al-Wakra, saw new development, mostly constructed away from the old housing that had been built along the coast which was left, in the first instance, to decay. But other small centres also saw development associated with those who had traditional rights to settle in those areas, as well as responding to government initiatives to collect and settle the mobile population. The small settlement at al-Sumaismah was a case in point. These three aerial photographs illustrate the beginnings of the new style of residential development, and were taken in the 1980s.

The settlement of al-Sumaismah is situated roughly two-thirds of the way between Doha and al-Khor. In the early days of settlement there was a coastal track linking the two towns, and this would have passed through al-Sumaismah. But development of the North Road five to fifteen kilometres from the coast, reduced its viability to some extent. Located on an open stretch of coast the settlement is now approached by a five kilometre link road east from the North Road. Set back from the coast, the government established a road pattern within which land was distributed to those wishing to live there. Note the single masjid established for the growing community and, in the first photograph, a large residential development established on the coastline.

These next three photographs are illustrative of the beginnings of modern constructions in the peninsula. The architecture is of column and beam construction, the beam spans are relatively short, and the scale of the buildings is larger than those preceding them.

As mentioned elsewhere, by the 1950s, the country was becoming more stable, the population was increasing with the return of many who had left in the impoverished times prior to and immediately after the Second World War, and expertise was being sought abroad in order to help with the country’s development. The burgeoning oil industry, particularly, required labour and, with it came the need for government facilities. In these two photographs, taken in 1954, the Darwish Contracting Company were one of the first companies to be able to take advantage of the boom which was beginning. The construction is interesting in that the columns are built in the same manner as traditional buildings, though with concrete blocks rather than hasa. Although the façade appears to have concrete beams, the beams supporting the floors look as if they will be timber, contrasting with structures such as the government schools which had concrete floors. The building is possibly the old Government Guest House where expatriates were first housed when they came to Qatar to work for the State, or one of the other houses near the Guest Palace which became the Polyclinic. All are, sadly, now demolished. The first photograph shows Abdulrahman Darwish Fakhro holding one of his sons at what looks like the intended entrance to the building. The lower photograph shows Abdullah Darwish, one of the sons of Kassem bin Darwish Fakhro, on site.

The Darwish family was one of, if not the most important merchant family in Qatar at that time. This photograph, taken in 1954, is of the house of Abdullah Darwish showing the scale of the house and its compound, with development still being undertaken. The style of the architecture is very much traditional in character and detail. The corner column is buttressed, which is unusual, but there are the common decorative features at the junction of columns and beams, and a large number of maraazim which are certainly decorative and are also likely to be functional. The building appears to have two parts to it, the far part incorporating screens in its openings. While containing no badgheer, the third photograph, a residence, is still very much a Qatari building. It is interesting to see the cows wandering round the site, a reminder that many Qatari families relied on a variety of animals such as camels, cows, goats, sheep, hens and rabbits within their sites, providing them with some of their daily needs.

These next two photographs are interesting as they show something rarely seen – part of the operation of the centre of a household. A similar bi’r would have been a central part of every household’s operation. Unfortunately, the proximity to the sea, the rising salinity levels caused by both this and water abstraction as well as problems created by nearby septic tanks created increasing problems for this source of the household’s water. This led to the market in water transported around the town in tankers – both donkey and lorry based – and eventually to the piping of potable water along galvanised steel pipes into similar tanks resulting in the common sight and taste of rust.

Above the two doors to the left of the photo are permanent ventilation openings and the two windows are protected by iron bars as well as – in the case of that on the right – what appear to be internal shutters. The final item to note are the pigeon boxes on the back wall. It was common to have these as well as seeing hens within the compound.

The last photograph shows two women grinding wheat in a large pestle as they prepare harees, a traditional meal that requires the soaking of crushed wheat and then mixing it with a meat, cooking it and serving it with a sugared topping. Just as with machboos, every family has its own jealously guarded recipe adding different grains, vegetables and spices in differing proportions. There are household items ranged along the wall and the children of the household are watching. Why they’re not helping or playing, I’m not sure.

The sepia photograph, two above, illustrates the operation of a bi’r within a courtyard in Doha where a bakra has been permanently suspended above the well in order to help draw the water up. In rural areas this was not always possible or practicable and water was drawn either manually as appears to be the case here, or with the use of animals, usually either camels or donkeys. In this photograph, probably taken in the 1940s or early 1950s, water is being drawn in a canvas bucket by a badu from what seems to be a free-standing bi’r with houses seen behind it. The animal on the left has shafts attached to it suggesting that it might be pulling a cart to move water. The bi’r has a channel at the top left which would be filled with water in order to permit animals to drink. In its height and drinking arrangement it is dissimilar from the alabaar found in rural locations.

This photograph is apparently one of the oldest here, having been taken in the 1930s. It shows a group of people, young and old, men and women, hauling at a rope in order to draw water from a well. There is not sufficient detail in the photograph to know where it is or to glean any other details. I would guess that it is in the desert and that the well may be deep, but why it takes so many people to haul the rope I have no idea.

Looking at photographs such as those on this page, it can be difficult to understand how people lived in the Qatar peninsula only two or three generations ago. This photograph was taken in the nineteen-forties and shows women washing clothes in the sea, I believe at al-Khor. You can see the relationship between houses and the water which was typical of many of the littoral villages that were dependent for their economies on fishing and, perhaps, pearling. The beach was the centre of activities not just related to the boats and their maintenance and operation, but also to household functions. The sea was a great resource, but there was little else to support those who lived beside it.

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The sea

These two photographs also appear on the page looking at the activities relating to boats, and were found on sale in the suq. They illustrate something of the activity on pearling craft, though there is far more to understand than what is illustrated here. I am unable to put a date to the photographs but believe that they represent actual conditions of pearling and are not re-creations of traditional life. And this was a hard life, experienced under harsh conditions, but was one which appears to be regarded wistfully by those who were involved in it. While visitors to the Gulf are now able to see the fishing fleets in action and perhaps take advantage of the recreational craft operating as businesses, most will also be aware of something of the history of the pearling fleets on which the original wealth of Qatar was largely founded. Although the industry was crippled by the development of cultured pearls in the Far East, there are not only merchants and divers alive who participated in pearling in the Gulf, but even some who occasionally dive, recreationally, for pearls.

This photograph is an enlargement of a portion of the 1904 photograph above showing a number of traditional craft, notably the bateel and baqaara among them with wooden poles used to prop the craft in upright positions on the foreshore. It is not possible to see the stern of the nearest craft but it appears to have, as would be expected, no cutaway in front of its rudder to accommodate a propellor, this being a development brought about by the advent of diesel engines.

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Play

This photograph also comes from the suq and shows, I believe, children playing marbles. Having said that, the main participant appears on close inspection to be a man, as is the person standing on the left. Nor am I certain that this is a game of marbles as there isn’t enough detail to tell. But the action is typical of the game, so I have made that assumption. It is not possible to tell the date of the photograph, but it is likely to be no more recent than the nineteen fifties.

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More to be written…