Vintage block

byHabib Battah
Dec 4, 2013

For those of us who grew up after the civil war, it’s hard to imagine what Beirut once looked like. But lost among the skyscrapers, you can spot a bit of the old city if you look close enough.

These buildings on Sidani street, near Jeanne D’Arc, are barely noticeable from the street and serve as a car park.

All are abandoned and in pretty bad shape:

The front door was open and it looks like squatters had been here:

Judging by all the skyscrapers coming up around them, these buildings probably won’t be around much longer. A fleeting look at a past that is probably too painful for many to remember.

Habib Battah

Habib Battah is an investigative journalist and founder of the news site beirutreport.com. Battah has covered Lebanon and the Middle East for over 15 years and teaches journalism and media studies at the American University of Beirut. He is a contributor to Monocle, The Guardian, BBC World, Al Jazeera and others, a former fellow at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at Oxford University and two-time recipient of the Samir Kassir Press Freedom Award. Battah's investigative work was recently recognized for outstanding local reporting by the Columbia University Oakes Award for Environmental Reporting. Battah earned a B.A. in Journalism from the University of Texas at Austin and an M.A. in Near East Studies and Journalism from New York University.