Call to turn Sharbatly house into art museum

Two Saudi designers, Fatima Tameem Samman and Sama Suhail Abu Najam, have urged authorities to convert the Sharbatly’s heritage house, located in Jeddah’s historic Al-Balad historic district, into a museum of traditional Hijazi arts and craft.
The suggestion was made as their graduation project which the two designers submitted to the King Abdul Aziz University. They said that this house was an example of archaeology and unique design and could play an important role in the cultural movement of Jeddah.
In their project, the two designers documented important heritage buildings of Jeddah.
Al-Sharbatly house is 85 years old and strategically located in an important part of Jeddah.
Samman and Abu Najam have documented architectural details of the building in a book. They pointed out old Hijazi design impact on the the building and covered other aspects of the building in the book. They also discussed the historical and heritage side of the Kingdom, particularly Jeddah and its architectural legacy.
Saifullah Mohammad Abdullah Sharbatly said that work was in progress to develop the historic house into a prominent nonprofit site by next November to share Jeddah’s priceless culture. Much of the work is already finished. It will host various activities of the area including art exhibitions, cultural and poetry seminars.
A 100-year-old art portrait has been selected to be put on the main gate. It is considered one of the most important historical portraits of the region.