Style matters

by Gareth Smith October 17, 2000

written by Gareth Smith October 17, 2000

Take a stroll down Mar Antonios street in Gemmayzeh, Ashrafieh, and you feel the flavor of old Beirut – red sandstone buildings, trailing plants, wooden shutters and a lazy fug hanging in the air. People live here not just in an apartment but in a street, in a quarter, and that’s what has attracted Karim Bassil, general manager of La Constructa, to build two new apartment blocks in the old architectural style. “I want to create something beautiful of this small street,” says Bassil, “and I want others to follow my example.” Cynics might say that Bassil is another idealist about to be trampled by brute economic reality, but he has pre-sold six of seven apartments in one building, way ahead of handover at the end of the year, and nine of 15 in a second, which will not be ready until the end of 2002. With high interest rates,

Gareth Smith

Gareth Smith was a distinguished journalist who reported from the Middle East for over two decades. He served as the Financial Times correspondent in Tehran, where he was the chief Iran correspondent from 2003, following his earlier role as Lebanon correspondent. Throughout his career, Smith covered Middle Eastern affairs for leading media outlets, including The Financial Times, The Guardian, and the BBC. He also contributed as an editor to Executive magazine. His work as a freelance journalist in the 1990s, focusing on the politics of Iran and Iraq, paved the way for his appointment at the FT. In 2009, he relocated to the west coast of Ireland, where he balanced freelance journalism with his passion for nature and the land.

Style matters

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