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Name of Monument:

The House of the Naboodah (Bayt al-Naboodah)

Location:

Sharjah City, United Arab Emirates (Sharjah)

Responsible Institution:

Sharjah Museums Authority / Sharjah Heritage Directorate

 About Sharjah Museums Authority, Sharjah City

Date of Monument:

Built 1845

Architect(s) / Master-builder(s):

Unknown

Description:

This house at the heart of historic Sharjah belonged to 'Obaid bin 'Isa bin 'Ali Al Shamsi, who was also known as al-Naboodah. He was a well known pearl merchant with good connections to foreign countries such as India, East Africa and France. The house was originally built by 'Obaid's father Essa in 1845, and 'Obaid resided here with his three wives and ten children. Later it passed to his grandchildren, who lived in it till the 1970s. The double-storey house covers an area of 1280 square meters and is built around a large courtyard. Unusually, the kitchen annex with its well and the main reception area (majlis) are conceived separately from the main building arrangement. Family rooms and toilets are found on both floors, the first floor rooms preferably used in the summer, as they were cooler and airier than those on the ground floor. Enclosed rooms have high ceilings for the heat to rise and escape. Decoratively carved gypsum screen separate the rooms from washing areas. The house was carefully restored in the 1990s and now gives an excellent impression of the multiculturalism of traditional Sharjah architecture, as it combines local materials such as coral and lime mortar (jus) with red silt clay (sarooj) from Iran and hard woods from Zanzibar and East Africa.

Citation of this web page:

Ulrike al-Khamis "The House of the Naboodah (Bayt al-Naboodah)" in "Sharing History", Museum With No Frontiers, 2025.
https://sharinghistory.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=monument;AWE;ua;1;en

Prepared by: Ulrike Al-Khamis

MWNF Working Number: UA 001