The House of Abd Ar-Rahīm Abd al-Hādi

This house lies in the street joining the al-Yāsmīnah and al-Qaryūn quarters. It had been established by Mahmūd Bayk Abd al-Hādi in 1855 AD. The house is distinguished by its large size. It consists of four levels covering its whole area, and the open courtyard in the center is surrounded by several Iwāns. The reception area or Salāmlik is clearly separated from the women's section or haremlik, where the former looks like a completely separate building overlooked from the north by several rooms, with a special entrance high above the level of the dīwān on the ground floor. The eastern internal façade of the dīwān's yard is surrounded by cylindrical pottery holes known as “kizan” laid in a beautiful triangular structure. The stairway of the building lies in the southern part of the yard. It invites the visitor to walk through a passage, with a door and further stairs leading to the wide yard in the middle level of the building. This house had been strengthened defensively. It used to be situated at the farthest southern end of the old city. It looks like a fortified castle from the outside. Old photographs of the house show that it had been surrounded by green gardens to the west and south. The western façade is about 74 meters in length compared to the 56 meters of the southern wall.

Historical Section
The building's proportion: The building's proportion was confirmed based on its architectural fabric and what was mentioned by the historian Al-Nimr.
History: The architectural fabric of the palace can be classified as most likely dating back to the second half of the thirteenth century AH / nineteenth century AD from the late Ottoman era, and Al-Nimr supported this and stated that the one who built this palace was Abdul Rahim bin Abdul Hadi, who was one of the notables and dignitaries of the city of Nablus.
Founder and builders: This palace was founded and built in the second half of the late thirteenth century AH / nineteenth century AD by Abdul Rahim Abdul Hadi, one of the notables and dignitaries of the city.
Later (modern) history: Al-Nimr states that the upper part of the third floor of the palace was destroyed due to the earthquake of 1927 AD, which affected its residents. In 1949 AD, the first floor of the palace was converted into a private elementary school founded by Marwan Abdul Hadi, known as Al-Rawda School, which is considered the foundation on which the current Al-Rawda College was built. However, it later stopped and was abandoned and is now closed, and housing is limited to a small part of the upper area.

Architectural Description The palace is built on a large area of ​​land, overlooking the western and northern streets with two stone facades. The palace consists of three floors, which are led by a gate that opens in the northern facade. It is a medium-sized and high gate, and two stone steps lead to it from the main street. An entrance with a height of 2.5 m and a width of 2 m is opened in it. On each of its eastern and western sides, there is a small square stone arch, then stone rows, and then a large pointed stone arch is above it (Figure (1)). The entrance leads to a vestibule (distributed corridor), to the east of which there is a small room, and to the south there is a stone staircase that leads from it to an open, semi-square, medium-sized courtyard paved with stone tiles. It forms the courtyard of the first floor of the palace. In its four directions, there are a number of rooms of different sizes and areas with small arched entrances, some of which are decorated with local motifs. On the southern side of the open courtyard there is a simple entrance leading to a stone staircase leading to the second floor of the palace, which consists of a number of small open corridors and rooms. On the southern side of this floor there is another stone staircase leading to the third floor of the palace, which consists of a southern courtyard overlooked by northern and western rooms and halls, some of which are incomplete. This third floor is also reached through a small entrance located at the southwestern end of the palace’s western exterior facade.

Figure (1): The northern gate of Abdul Rahim Abdul Hadi Palace