Baron Empain’s Palace and the Boulevarde of Palaces
Helipolis is a suburb of Cairo that was built around 1910 to very modern standards, with plumbing, electricity, a tramway, a race course or Hippodrome, an airfield (aerodrome) and a whole street of palaces. Before this happened, it was simply desert. The nouveau and the ancient rich bought land and built their dwellings in Heliopolis.
Baron Empain’s palace is really only a house, but it was such an unusual house! He modeled it after the building style of the Angkor Wat in Thailand, and had it constructed of concrete. The rooftop was supposedly a place for soirees and had lights illuminating his gardens below. In the gardens were many erotic statues. The Egyptian government has been renovating his palace. There is a rumor that the dwelling was built so it could be rotated but that is a myth.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baron_Empain
The stairway inside is stunning, and gobsmacked me when I first saw it—awesome for a smallish private dwelling.
http://curious-places.blogspot.com.au/2011/03/baron-empain-palace-cairo-egypt.html
Of course the Baron was the man behind the construction of Heliopolis, so he was definitely a get up and go person. His influence is even seen in that great week of the meeting of pilots in 1910 which is featured in Rough Surrender. One of the main prizes was supplied by the Baron - the Prix du Baron Empain.
If you have read Rough Surrender you’ll be familiar with the Heliopolis Hotel where Leonhardt and Faith have their first all-night-long lovers’ tryst. That was some night. Fun and games and BDSM. But back to the hotel, it is now one of the official palaces of the Egyptian government. In 1910 its architecture was renowned throughout the world, and the Heliopolis Hotel was a place that many heads of state, and monarchs stayed at when they visited Cairo. The building was actually completed a little after my story, in early 1911, but I could not resist putting it in my story.
Below is a little map showing some of the features of Heliopolis. If you lived there, like Leonhardt Meisner does, you would be rubbing shoulders with the rich and famous. I loved the idea of having a setting with a whole damn street of palaces.
If you do a google search you find a huge plethora of images for his palace. Go look and be stunned!
Baron Empain’s palace is really only a house, but it was such an unusual house! He modeled it after the building style of the Angkor Wat in Thailand, and had it constructed of concrete. The rooftop was supposedly a place for soirees and had lights illuminating his gardens below. In the gardens were many erotic statues. The Egyptian government has been renovating his palace. There is a rumor that the dwelling was built so it could be rotated but that is a myth.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baron_Empain
The stairway inside is stunning, and gobsmacked me when I first saw it—awesome for a smallish private dwelling.
http://curious-places.blogspot.com.au/2011/03/baron-empain-palace-cairo-egypt.html
Of course the Baron was the man behind the construction of Heliopolis, so he was definitely a get up and go person. His influence is even seen in that great week of the meeting of pilots in 1910 which is featured in Rough Surrender. One of the main prizes was supplied by the Baron - the Prix du Baron Empain.
If you have read Rough Surrender you’ll be familiar with the Heliopolis Hotel where Leonhardt and Faith have their first all-night-long lovers’ tryst. That was some night. Fun and games and BDSM. But back to the hotel, it is now one of the official palaces of the Egyptian government. In 1910 its architecture was renowned throughout the world, and the Heliopolis Hotel was a place that many heads of state, and monarchs stayed at when they visited Cairo. The building was actually completed a little after my story, in early 1911, but I could not resist putting it in my story.
Below is a little map showing some of the features of Heliopolis. If you lived there, like Leonhardt Meisner does, you would be rubbing shoulders with the rich and famous. I loved the idea of having a setting with a whole damn street of palaces.
If you do a google search you find a huge plethora of images for his palace. Go look and be stunned!
Here are some pics of the Heliopolis Palace Hotel.
Below is also one taken in 1910 at the time of the air show, of a plane flying over downtown Heliopolis.
Below is also one taken in 1910 at the time of the air show, of a plane flying over downtown Heliopolis.