The Holiday Inn Beirut: Urban Warfare, Post-War Reconstruction and Memorialization
- Anthony Youssef
- May 23, 2023
- 5 min read
I recently spoke with Mayssa Jallad about the Holiday Inn Beirut and its relationship to urban warfare and post-war reconstruction. Mayssa is a singer-songwriter and architectural researcher. She recently released “Marjaa: The Battle of the Hotels”, a concept album building upon her research and exploring a sub-conflict within the Lebanese Civil War. The album features two tracks that make explicit references to the Holiday Inn Beirut, a decommissioned hotel designed by Le Corbusier’s associate, André Wogenscky and his frequent Lebanese collaborator Maurice Hindié. Our discussion shed light on the historical significance of the Holiday Inn Beirut, its role in the Battle of the Hotels and its memorialization.
The Lebanese Hotel District as a Battleground
“These hotels were instrumental in the battle, they are the main protagonists, their architecture was necessary for the urban battle to happen…” - Mayssa Jallad
Mayssa’s thesis in Historic Preservation at Columbia’s School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation provides captivating insights into the origins of the Lebanese Hotel District and its battle. Mayssa explains that the district’s development can be traced alongside Beirut's port expansion in the 1860s.The district experienced a second wave of development during the construction of the Beirut airport in the 1950s, marked by the propagation of modernist architecture. In the 1970s, the district would become a battleground between the Lebanese Front (Christian Nationalists referred to as the Blues) and the Lebanese National Movement (Pro-Palestinian leftists referred to as the Reds). Her thesis explored the architectural dynamics, origins, consequences, and involvement of each building in the conflict to develop an experimental preservation strategy.
The Battle of the Hotels as a Concept Album
“The project Marjaa was born out of the necessity of merging my music or my my instinct to make music with the research that I have done on the Lebanese Hotel district.” - Mayssa Jallad
After completing her thesis Mayssa left New York for Beirut to merge what she considers her two vocations, music and architecture. This resulted in the concept album "Marjaa: The Battle of the Hotels” that references her master’s thesis. The album comprises two parts. In the first part, Mayssa strolls through the city, tries and fails to follow an old map. The derelict buildings propel her onto a past filled with the violence of snipers, and a present filled with vacant luxury real estate developments. In the second part, Mayssa inhabits the building of the Battle of the Hotels, as its events unfold. Her approach is rooted in real-life site analysis and architectural methodologies. The exercise of walking through the city and overlaying historical maps with the present-day landscape informed her understanding of the city's evolution. Among these buildings is the Holiday Inn Beirut featured in two tracks on the album. You can listen to the first of the two tracks in the player below.
After completing her thesis Mayssa left New York for Beirut to merge what she considers her two vocations, music and architecture. This resulted in the concept album "Marjaa: The Battle of the Hotels” that references her master’s thesis. The album comprises two parts. In the first part, Mayssa strolls through the city, tries and fails to follow an old map. The derelict buildings propel her onto a past filled with the violence of snipers, and a present filled with vacant luxury real estate developments. In the second part, Mayssa inhabits the building of the Battle of the Hotels, as its events unfold. Her approach is rooted in real-life site analysis and architectural methodologies. The exercise of walking through the city and overlaying historical maps with the present-day landscape informed her understanding of the city's evolution. Among these buildings is the Holiday Inn Beirut featured in two tracks on the album. You can listen to the first of the two tracks in the player below.
In this track, Mayssa plays the piano in reference to images of militants playing the piano in the hotel bar. Lyrically, the track recounts the Blues’ defence of the hotel. The lyrics reference the Blues’ access to electricity which made it easy to circulate missiles and heavy machine guns and to set up two sniper stations on the rotating restaurant on the rooftop. Mayssa also speculates on the access to incredible supplies that would have been available to the Blues at a five-star hotel.
The Holiday Inn as a Fortress
“Because of its incredible views, and because there was still electricity it there was an ultimate fort and a killing machine that no one could penetrate.” - Mayssa Jallad
During the Battle of the Hotels, the Reds managed to capture all the hotels except for the Holiday Inn due to its height, strategic location, and defensive capabilities. The hotel served as a fortress for the Blues for around five months, with limited defenders but strong fortifications. The power supply, elevators, and rotating restaurant provided advantages, including access to heavy weaponry. Snipers stationed in the building terrorized people in the vicinity. The conflict continued with a series of retaliatory actions and massacres, further escalating the war. The end of the battle resulted in a 15-year green line creating an urban rift that still resonates today.
The Holiday Inn Beirut as a Memorial
“It is a witness…no one can doubt that this didn’t happen, it’s the only witness that can be describing a larger history than an individual history…” - Mayssa Jallad
Throughout the post-war reconstruction the hotel was untouched. Today the ground floor is occupied by the military which controls access to the remaining floors. The hotel’s two shareholders, one of which is the Lebanese Compagnie Immobiliere Libanaise and the other, a Kuwaiti company, are still disputing over its future. Public opinion is also conflicted. Some have voiced opinions calling for its demolition, some for its redevelopment and others for it to remain as it is. For Mayssa the Holiday Inn Beirut is overbuilt and indestructible; she does not fear for its demolition. She emphasizes instead the importance of preserving its historical significance while questioning whether it can be memorialized yet in the absence of true reconciliation and the ongoing fear of renewed civil conflict.
Mayssa's album serves as an unconventional form of education, aimed at engaging a post-war generation in the absence of state-legislative education on the Lebanese Civil War. By questioning the notion of heritage and the significance of the Battle of the Hotels, the album challenges the prevailing narrative shaped by the ruling class. It becomes a means of bringing justice to the victims of the war and holding those responsible accountable. Mayssa Jallad's "Marjaa: The Battle of the Hotels" offers a unique perspective on the interplay between architecture, music, and historical narratives.
You can listen to Mayssa’s album on popular streaming platforms including Spotify and Apple Music.
This article is based on an episode of “Talking Architecture”, a podcast on architecture, buildings and the stories they tell. You can listen to the full episode in the player below.
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