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Casablanca
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Marrakesh
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Tangier
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Melilla
» » El-Minzah Hotel,
Tangier
Architecture
Stubbed toes come with the territory in Morocco: with so much intriguing architecture to gawp
at, you can’t always watch where you’re going. Some buildings are more memorable than
others – as in any developing country, there’s a fair amount of makeshift housing and cheap
concrete here – but it’s the striking variation in architecture that keeps you wondering what
could possibly be behind that wall, down the block and over the next mountain pass. Here is a
brief catalogue of Moroccan landmarks most likely to leave your jaw on tiled floors, and your
toes in constant jeopardy.
Deco Villas
When Morocco came under colonial control, villes nouvelles (new cities) were built outside the
walls of the medina, with street grids and modern architecture imposing strict order.
Neoclassical facades, mansard roofs and high-rises must have come as quite a shock when
they were introduced by the French and Spanish – especially for the Moroccan taxpayers
footing colonial construction bills.
But one style that seemed to bridge local Islamic geometry and streamlined European
modernism was art deco. Painter Jacques Majorelle brought a Moroccan colour sensibility to
deco in 1924, adding bursts of blue, green and acid yellow to his deco villa and Jardin
Majorelle.
Author Tahir Shah’s relocation to Casablanca and restoration of a historic home inspired The
Caliph’s House, including this observation: ‘There can be no country on earth better suited to
buying decorations than Morocco. Every corner of the kingdom has its own unique styles, each
one perfected through centuries of craftsmanship.’
In its 1930s heyday, Casablanca cleverly grafted Moroccan geometric
detail onto whitewashed European edifices, adding a signature Casablanca
Mauresque deco look to villas, movie palaces and hotels, notably Marius
Boyer’s 1930 Rialto Cinema and the 1922 Hotel Transatlantique. Tangier
rivalled Casablanca for Mauresque deco decadence, with its 1940s
Cinematheque and 1930s El-Minzah Hotel – the architectural model for
Rick’s Café in the 1942 classic Casablanca . Today you’ll see elements of
Mauresque all over Morocco – in architecture and in everyday life,
Morocco is making a remarkable effort to balance its indigenous traditions
and global outlook.Fondouqs
Since medieval times, these creative courtyard complexes featured ground-floor artisans’
workshops and rented rooms upstairs – from the nonstop fondouq flux of artisans and
adventurers emerged cosmopolitan ideas and new inventions. Fondouqs once dotted caravan
routes, but as trading communities became more stable and affluent, most fondouqs were
gradually replaced with private homes and storehouses. Happily, 140 fondouqs remain in
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