Have you ever come across this Chinese Pagoda house while driving down the streets of Dubai?

Sheikha Shamsa Hasher Al Maktoum recently shared a very interesting thread about a house that fascinated her since she was a child. The unique home is commonly referred to as the “Chinese house” by its neighbours.

I grew up seeing this pagoda house on a weekly basis and would come up with different theories & stories on who lives in it and what it shelters. It belongs to Zakaria Ebrahim Khalel Doleh, an Emirati who built it in 1965 based on the intention of wanting to build a bungalow. pic.twitter.com/OBOGAhv60J

— شمسة آل مكتوم (@shmsahasher) April 24, 2022

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The house is located in Al-Bada’a area, and you can catch a glimpse of it while driving down Al-Wasl road

Influenced from Indochinese architecture, it is designed like a pagoda (a tiered structure that is usually found in Southeast Asia and the Far-East).

Built in 1965 by Zakaria Ibrahim Khalil Doleh, the house was inspired by the photographs and movies he saw about China, Japan and the Far East. According to the Dubai post, the land on which he built his house was purchased for five paisa per foot. WOW.

“I like the fact that my house stands out. It used to be a sailors’ landmark, you know. They used my house as a landmark back in the day. Who wouldn’t like that?”
Interior & close-up exterior of the house and the view from the attic pic.twitter.com/M9ZsCRRG66

— شمسة آل مكتوم (@shmsahasher) April 24, 2022

Besides being a popular landmark, this legendary house has caught a fair share of eyes and is labelled by Tripadvisor as “The Forgotten Chinese Pagoda House”

In an article by Sports360, Dave Crocker (whose father Les Crocker was Assistant Manager of the UAE national football team and came to Dubai in the 1970s) recalled: “Mum and Dad’s house was set back about 500 metres from the beach. I don’t know if it’s still there, but there was a large Chinese Pagoda which we could see from our balcony!”

The pagoda that was referred to as “Chinese house” or “البيت الصيني” by neighbors has been perfectly preserved to this day despite the constant changes Doleh has been making.
“I won’t stop renovating it for as long as I can,” Doleh says in an article by Gulf News (2013)

— شمسة آل مكتوم (@shmsahasher) April 24, 2022

Isn’t it just so fascinating to observe the little pieces of the past that still stand today, tall and strong, signifying humankind’s resilience and capabilities?

via GIPHY

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