The house
A merchant built it for pearls. We keep it for the quiet.
Coral stone, gypsum render, teak shutters and a wind tower — the standard engineering of the creek, restored rather than replaced.
The house was built around 1946 for a pearl merchant, at almost exactly the moment the pearl trade ended. Its coral-stone walls, gypsum render and wind tower were the standard engineering of the creek — architecture that cooled itself — and its courtyard was the family's living room for half a century.
We took on the building in 2017 and spent two years restoring rather than replacing: the same lime and gypsum, sarooj mortar mixed the old way, teak shutters rebuilt by hand, the wind tower re-opened after decades boarded shut. Where a wall could be left as found, it was — you sleep beside one in the room called Murjan.
Nine rooms was the number the house offered, so nine is the number we kept. There is no reception desk, no lobby music, and no television anywhere. There is a courtyard, a roof, a long breakfast, and a quarter outside the door that rewards walking slowly.
The day, as the house keeps it
- 7:00Gahwa and dates in the courtyard as the house wakes
- 8:00 – 11:00Breakfast, cooked to order, for as long as you like
- MiddayThe courtyard pool, the reading gallery, the shade
- 17:30Tea on the roof as the abras cross below
- After darkCandles in the courtyard; the fountain stilled at 22:00
Out the door
The quarter is the amenity.
Al Fahidi is a walking neighbourhood in a driving city — lanes too narrow for cars, galleries in old courtyards, and the creek doing what it has done for two centuries. Everything below is on foot.
- 4 minThe abra crossingOne dirham, both directions, the best boat ride in the Gulf.
- 6 minThe textile soukIndigo, madder and silk by the metre — our textiles came from here.
- 2 minThe coffee museumTwo lanes over. Ask for the Ethiopian ceremony upstairs.
- 9 minThe spice soukAcross the water by abra. Go hungry, come back with loomi.
- 1 minXVA and the galleriesThe quarter's art houses open by ten; the courtyards are free.
Guest book
Words left at the door.
“We came for two nights on the way to somewhere else and cancelled the somewhere else. The courtyard at seven in the morning is worth the fare on its own.”
Stayed in Sidr, March
“The quietest place I have slept in this city in eleven years of visiting it. Ask them to put breakfast on the Dana terrace and cancel your morning.”
Stayed in Dana, January
“It is a house, not a hotel, and that is the whole point. By the second day the gahwa arrived the way I like it without my asking.”
Stayed in Ghaf, November
Request a stay
Tell us your dates. A person replies within the day.
No booking engine, no hold on your card until we have spoken. Write with your dates and the room you like, or call the house on +971 4 000 0000.