Dar Bennani lies in a residential area on the edge of the epicentre. While the area is probably as old as the city, it is thought the oldest houses in this zone are from Merenid times, in the 13/14th Century. Indeed our next door neighbour, to which we are joined apparently seamlessly, has been published as a Merenid house. So perhaps Dar Bennani too is a foundation of that age.
The internal layout certainly suggests a date before the 19th Century, and some of the decoration may well be of that date or earlier. For example, the painted doors have been dated stylistically to the 19th Century. But there was a major restoration in 1925 (the Hijra date of 1342 is inscribed in the carved plaster), which may also be the time at which a large and elaborate fountain was installed in the courtyard and some of the tilework installed or restored.
The name of the house comes from its ownership by the prominent and extended Bennani family from about 1970 to 2004, when the patriarch Abdul-haq Bennani Mshaita died and the house was apparently split up among his offspring and a number of tenants. Before 1970, we are told by a scion of the Bennani, the house was in the hands of the equally prominent Adiyel family. But we do not know for how long; we have work to do to improve on this history.
What our housekeeper has discovered is that the house has a resident djinn or spirit, as very many other houses in Morocco are also thought to do. Our djinn, a female as many are, can apparently be naughty but has never caused us any trouble.
The extensive restoration that we carried out in 2010-12 stripped the house to its bare bones before replacing floors and ceilings, replastering everywhere, installing wiring, plumbing, bathrooms and kitchens. We reconfigured the kitchen/dining room as a single area; installed the library area and fireplace; made the mezzanine in the master bedroom; laid out the roof garden; and made several other substantial changes. Chief among these was the complicated task of dismantling the fountain from its position projecting into the courtyard and moving it to its present position behind a new plunge pool.
The design was made by the owners (100 working drawings). Supervision of the work from the UK was taxing and there were many mistakes, but we were generally happy with the quality of the work of our splendid craftsmen who made everything you see around you, including much of the furniture.
Scroll through the gallery below to see how the house was restored to its former glory.
