Ali Labib Gabr belongs to the second generation of Egyptian architects, which was provided with significant professional opportunities by the Egyptianization policies adopted after independence in 1922. Besides numerous residential buildings in Cairo and Alexandria (villas and blocks of flats), Gabr designed large-scale housing schemes for industrial workers, together with several factories, hospitals, hotels, and institutional buildings. In contrast with the earlier generation, Gabr was not concerned with the search for a distinctive "national style" for Egypt, although some of his buildings may recall the massiveness of Ancient Egyptian architecture, e.g., the Lawyers’ Syndicate in Cairo (1948). He instead worked on the diffusion of Western contemporary forms in the country. His own inclination was towards moderate modernism, or rather modern classicism, much in line with the bulk of interwar architecture in Europe, particularly in Great Britain and France. He was typically linked to members of the Réunions Internationales d'Architectes, the rival organization of the CIAM (Congrès Internationaux d’Architecture Moderne), which later gave birth to the IUA (International Union of Architects). However, Gabr was indeed much interested in Egyptian heritage, both Pharaonic and Islamic, as his many sketches of details from Cairo's old quarters or monuments of Upper Egypt show. When preparing a project, he is also known to have paid acute attention to its function and future use. His work is moreover characterized by remarkable execution, an exceptional achievement in the Egyptian context.
Educated at the Khedivial School, one of the best public schools in Cairo at the time, Gabr graduated in 1920 from the Architectural Department of Cairo’s Polytechnical School. That same year, he was granted a government scholarship to complete his studies at Liverpool University’s School of Architecture, by then the leading one in Britain. Already a talented draughtsman, Gabr greatly impressed the teaching staff during his four-year stay there. The working designs for a large Repertory Theatre for Cairo that he submitted for his thesis in 1924 were considered “the best set ever submitted to the school” by Sir Charles-Herbert Reilly, with whom Gabr remained in contact. After a few months of practical training in the offices of Nicholas and Dixon-Spain’s firm in London, Gabr returned to Egypt, where he was appointed assistant lecturer at the Architectural Department of the Polytechnical School in Cairo, then lecturer (1927), and professor (1930), later serving as its Dean (1934–55).
A committed teacher, Gabr worked extensively to improve the architectural curriculum at the Polytechnical School. Through his acute knowledge of architectural developments in Europe, where he regularly traveled, combined with his photographic skills (one of his hobbies, along with music), he was able to provide his students with a solid foundation in current international trends and ideas.
From 1928 onwards, Gabr was engaged in private practice. His first villas, designed in the typical Italianate manner of the time, reveal an early involvement with ornamental Art Deco—as seen in the Muhammad Rida Bey mansion in Zamalek, Cairo (c. 1930)—though he soon moved toward simplified forms, composed of horizontal lines and audacious semi-circular overhangs, best exemplified by the restrained villa of the famous Egyptian singer Umm Kulthum (1935) in Cairo and the Makram Ebeid villa in Alexandria (1936). His later works exhibit more sensitivity to the cubism and plasticism of the Dutch School, particularly the influence of Willem Dudok, of whom he was a great admirer.
The opportunity to develop his concepts on a larger scale came in 1946, when he was commissioned by the Misr Spinning and Weaving Company to design and execute a workers’ housing scheme in Mahalla al-Kubra, Lower Egypt, in collaboration with Ali al-Maligi Massa‘ud, a member of the Royal Town Planning Institute in London, responsible for the planning aspects of the project. The first of its kind in Egypt, the scheme incorporated the most up-to-date social, sporting, and recreational facilities, including a stadium, gymnasium, swimming pool, club, open-air cinema, and public laundries equipped with washing machines. Additionally, the project included row houses and blocks of flats for the 26,000 workers on-site. Its layout was based on ample perspectives, with an emphasis on axiality and symmetry, while horizontality predominated in the composition of the buildings, some featuring softly curved façades.
Other industrial complexes were subsequently entrusted to Gabr, including the Misr Rayon Company Mills and workers' housing (1950) at Kafr al-Dawwar, near Alexandria, and the Misr Silk Weaving Company Plants and workers’ housing at Helwan, a suburb of Cairo. Among his later significant works are the offices of the National Center for Scientific Research (1950) and the Government Press (1953) in Cairo, as well as two five-star hotels: the New Cataract Hotel in Aswan and the New Winter Palace in Luxor, both completed in the early 1960s.
Gabr was also deeply interested in painting and led the Art Friends Society in Cairo for many years. In 1962, he participated in the technical committee set by UNESCO in collaboration with the Egyptian Ministry of Culture for the Abu Simbel Salvage Operation, an initiative aimed at rescuing the ancient monuments of Nubia from being submerged due to the construction of the new Aswan High Dam. For his contributions, Gabr was awarded the State Medal for Arts in 1964.
Mercedes Volait
Sennott R.S. Encyclopedia of twentieth century architecture, Vol.2 (G-O). Fitzroy Dearborn., 2005.
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