Bayt al-Suhaymi

This guide traces a merchant house in Old Cairo's Darb al-Asfar, begun in 1648 by Sheikh Abdulwahab al-Tablawi and enlarged a century and a half later into one sprawling home laced with carved mashrabiya screens. You'll hear how its rooms were split between men's and women's quarters linked by a hidden corridor, and follow the family down to the scholar who gave the house his name. Listen for how little his heirs asked for it when they finally let it go in 1931.