Surrounded by the chaos of new development created in the wake of the reconstruction of Beirut, there is little to indicate what sort of house could be hidden beyond sight of the paved walkway and old stone staircase that leads up to Sir Marc and Lady Cochrane’s home. But, for those fortunate enough to be invited into the house, a splendid and unique architectural and decorative treat awaits.
Built in around 1850 during Ottoman rule, the house has evolved from a rural two-room dwelling just outside the old city walls to an important Beirut mansion. Extensions continued up to the 1920s, the house expanding to accommodate several descendants of previous owners. By the 1960s, nine families were recorded as living in the then much-partitioned house.
When Marc and Hala Cochrane acquired the house from its 22 owners on St Patrick’s Day 2007, it was in a very sorry state, but one that would provide a most intriguing architectural puzzle and a window into over 100 years of changing Beirut society.
Through Marc’s mother, Lady Sursock Cochrane, The Cochrane family have deep roots in Lebanon. While Marc and Hala have moved with their family between Beirut, Ireland and London as politics, security and Marc’s business dictated, they always wanted to return and restore a very special old house as their main home.
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‘I was dumbstruck walking into the dilapidated place and realising I was standing in perhaps the last example of a house with an internal courtyard,’ says Marc. ‘It had survived so much, including the shrapnel of the Lebanese Civil War (1975-90) followed by the now infamous property speculators.’
A great deal of expert research was undertaken before the 30-month renovation project began in 2008. There was much excavation work going on at the time, and archaeologists were unearthing layers of history from the Iron Age to medieval fragments.
Hala, who studied Islamic art in Beirut and whose career was in antiques and textiles, loves ruins and was delighted to find a Roman bath complex emerge from the ground next door, along with a rare labrum (a large water-filled vessel).
Before Hala could begin furnishing and decorating the house, called Beit as-Saifi, it had to undergo a massive refurbishment and modernisation. This included the restoration and repainting of the walls and ceilings, along with discreetly installing an internal staircase, kitchen and heating and air conditioning. The old kitchens were transformed into a Turkish bath.
‘Lebanon is a wonderful country for artisan skills,’ notes Hala. Specialist Nathalie Yared undertook the complex task of uncovering baroque and neoclassical trompe-l’oeil vignettes and panels in the main first floor rooms, cleaning and replacing missing and damaged sections. ‘I was very lucky to meet the generous and highly professional decorator Serge Brunst’, says Hala. ‘He has the best house in Beirut and together we enjoyed the challenge of furnishing the many rooms. It proved far less daunting than I’d feared.’
Hala loves antiques, be they English or Ottoman, from pieces of furniture and textiles to old books and pictures, especially of Lebanese scenes and subjects by well-known artists like David Roberts. She collects Bohemian glass, carpets and embroideries and has Ottoman-period pieces in all her homes, especially Ottoman Turkish carpets. ‘The geometric designs appeal far more than Persian florals,’ she says.
The interiors are layered and colourful: so well executed is the restoration work that it is difficult to tell what is old and what is new. Marc and Hala went in search of a dream and, with patience, study and dedicated teamwork, they’ve saved a significant fragment of Lebanese history to live on as a welcoming family home.
