Palace of Muhīb al-Dīn, known as Uthmān Katkhuda

The palace of Muhīb al-Dīn, residence of Amir Uthmān Katkhuda (1735–36), was largely destroyed in 1873 during the construction of the Bayt al-Qādī street. Only the main hall remains, the qā’a, and several annex rooms, on two levels. The main façade, in the south west, is corbelled on two storeys, and surmounted with wooden eaves. It was probably reconstructed during restorations carried out in the twentieth century.

On the ground floor, the entrance connects to a corridor with two doors that leads to the main hall, the durqa’a. The latter, with its lowered floor, is covered by an octagonal wooden dome resting on muqarnas pendentives. On two sides it is flanked by shallow recesses, while two large iwān flank it to the north and south, with the one in the north leading to annexing rooms and a small courtyard. It also has a staircase that leads to the hammām located on the first storey, which is accessed by another stairway, located near the entrance. There, two halls reserved for women and two other rectangular rooms surround the central space. In the northern extremity there is a malqaf, a vent that captures the exterior air—a system of aeration and ventilation that was known in Egypt since antiquity. The first known example of this in Cairo is that in the Sālih Talā’i Mosque (1160). In Iraq, a similar system existed, called bājīr.

This palace was built at the same time as other civil architecture in Cairo, like the qā‘a of Amir Aqqush (1320–1330) and the palace of Amir Taz (1352), both of which have a similar plan consisting of a main hall flanked by two īwān. According to Creswell, this arrangement already existed in a construction dating back to the twelfth century: the Qā‘at al-Dardir, one of the most ancient known qā‘a.

In the middle of the central room stands a marble fountain that came from the house of Aisha Bezada and was placed there in 1911. The building’s original fountain probably stood in the southern iwān, but was removed. Wood has been used extensively in the decorations. It was sometimes carved, painted and gilded, like on the ceilings or on the decorations of the iwān. The designs are muqarnas and inscriptions recite Qur’anic verses, and sometimes the decorations take the form of turned and assembled mashrabiyya, like in the recesses adjoining the central room and in front of the rooms reserved for the women on the first floor. The mashrabiyya technique was  a speciality in Cairo, and was initially used on architectural elements (balustrades), then, only in the twentieth century, to screen windows. The technique was also often used by the Mamluks to mask a pair of loggia used by female singers on different parts of the qā‘a.

cœur de la pièce centrale prend place une fontaine en marbre, qui provient de la maison d’Aïcha Bezada et a été placée là en 1911. La fontaine originale du bâtiment se tenait probablement dans l’iwan sud, mais elle a été supprimée. Le bois est très sollicité dans le décor. Il peut être sculpté, peint et doré, par exemple dans les plafonds ou dans le décor des iwân. Les motifs utilisés sont des muqarnas et des inscriptions énonçant des versets coraniques. Il peut aussi être tourné et monté en moucharabiehs, comme dans les renfoncements jouxtant la pièce centrale ou devant les pièces réservées aux femmes, à l’étage. La technique du moucharabieh était une spécialité du Caire, employée tout d’abord sur des objets architecturaux (balustrades) avant d’être utilisée pour masquer les fenêtres, à partir du XVI^e siècle seulement. La technique est aussi fréquemment employée sous les Mamluks pour masquer une paire de loggia destinées à des chanteuses, situées de part et d’autre de la qâ‘a.