Debbane Palace

During the 15th-century reign of Sultan Mehmed II, the Ottomans introduced the Iltizam tax-farming system in which a mültezim was responsible for collecting revenue from a mukataa, a parcel of land owned by the Ottoman crown.[1] The term of an Iltizam ranged from one to twelve years.[2] In 1695, the Iltizam was superseded by the Malikâne system where tax-farming contracts were granted for life, and a tenant could give the tax-farm to an heir if the treasury agreed.[3] Under both systems, revenue collection rights were awarded to the highest bidder who could keep profits after forwarding to the Sublime Porte (imperial government).[2]

The ayan, a class of local notables or dynasts, developed into the chief owners of these rights. They were more efficient than the governors in the preceding Timar system at forwarding revenues to Porte, and their local nature afforded them more knowledge of the region's politics and a vested interest in its success.[4]

The Hammud ayan established themselves in the port city of Sidon in the 16th or 17th century and became its tax collectors from the early 18th century. They benefited from the 1695 fiscal reform, which granted them lifetime Malikâne, thereby increasing their political power and wealth significantly.[5] Before the "age of Ayan", urban development had been the privilege of non-local Ottoman officials; the Hammuds were prime among other Sidonian notables to sponsor large-scale urban development projects, including the construction of commanding private residences, mosques, public hammams (bathhouses), khans (caravanserais) and schools, among other buildings.[6][7] Mustafa Katkhuda, a Hammud notable of the first half of the 17th century, was the first to leave material architectural evidence of the family's involvement in urban development.[5] Katkhuda commissioned Sidon's Kikhiya mosque in 1634–1645.[8] In the early 18th century, Mustafa Agha al-Hammud was the first Hammud to be identified in written records.[lower-alpha 1] He was a prolific builder; among his commissions are the city's Hammam al-Jadid (New Bathhouse) and the enlargement of the Bahri Mosque.[8]

The family's building activity was continued by Mustafa's son Ali Agha al-Hammud, who had become Sidon's tax farmer around the late 1710s and held that position until c. 1735; Ali was, like Mustafa a waqf (religious endowment) trustee.[10] He commissioned two of the city's most prestigious private residences to showcase his wealth;[lower-alpha 2] he also commissioned public amenities including Khan al-Hummus and Hammam al-Ward (Rose Bathhouse).[11]

Portrait of Asin Khlat (1825–1872)

Portrait of Youssef Loutfi Debbane (1808-1883).

Dar Ali Agha al-Hammud was built in 1721 by Ali Agha al-Hammud in the eastern part of Sidon's medina.[12][13] A wall inscription above the door to the qa'a (guestroom) dating to 1730–1731 (1143 AH) asserts that Ali al-Hammud was the patron of the house.[14] In the late 1730s, Ahmad al-Hammud inherited the public functions of his father Ali. Ahmad ran into many lawsuits and financial problems in addition to his uneasy relations with the Ottoman governor of Sidon. He was accused of selling waqf properties to the French. In 1739 he was appointed mutassallim (deputy governor) of Sidon but eventually lost his political influence and source of wealth with the rise to power of the local Acre-based chief and tax farmer Zahir al-Umar. With Ahmad's demise, the Hammuds' urban development activity ceased.[15] After the Hammuds' loss of influence the family mansion was transformed into the seat of an Ottoman governmental office.[14] In 1871 city archives the mansion is described as a saray (government headquarters) and in 1901 as the Dar al-Hukuma al-Qadima (Old Government Headquarters), indicating that it was used at the time as a local Ottoman administrative building.[14]

Sidon on an 1800 map. Sidon was the capital of its namesake province until Jazzar Ahmed Pasha moved the capital to Acre in 1775.

In 1856, the Sacy family acquired the haremlik (harem quarters) at the eastern end of the mansion as their private palace. The western part of the mansion, including the selamlik (Ottoman reception hall), was bought in 1859 by Asin Khlat, the wife of Youssef Debbane, a rich sericulturist and silk trader.[13] The Dar was thenceforth known as Qasr Debbane or Debbane Palace; it became the private residence of the Debbane family since 1859 until the early years of the Lebanese Civil War in 1976. During the war, Sidon was shelled, and then-owner Mary Audi-Debbane moved to Beirut, leaving the palace unattended. The palace was squatted by hundreds of Palestinian refugees, who fled the conflict in the city of Tyre in February 1978; the palace was further damaged and ransacked by militiamen who squatted there in 1983.[13][16]

The qasr was listed as a historical monument by the Lebanon's Ministry of Culture in 1968. In 1999 Georges, François, Jean Debbane, and Marie Debbane-Naggear renounced their rights of ownership as heirs to the Debbané Foundation.[13][17] The Debbané Foundation is a Melkite religious waqf, managed by a committee representing the Debbane family, the director general of Antiquities of Lebanon, the mayor of the city, and the Greek-Catholic bishop of Saida.[13] The palace was restored by the Debbané Foundation in 2000 at an approximate cost of $2.5 million.[13] The palace was opened as a private museum during the UNESCO 2001 seminar in Saïda.[13][17]

Of the Palace's original 18th-century plan, only the selamlik, iwan, and service areas remain, the haremlik being destroyed during the 19th century. To accommodate their growing family, the Debbanes added two levels to the palace in the Levantine neo-Classical style during renovations undertaken between 1917 and 1920. The open courtyard was vertically extended by the addition of a gallery covered by a four-sided red tile roof. The new gallery was designed in the Damascene style with ablaq (alternating) motifs running on all its sides. A tiyyara, a tower-like structure, was later added on the terrace of the second floor.[19]