My Mountain House

So this would be the road to my house

I’ve got this plan. I am going to win the lottery, and then I am going to buy a wonderful Lebanese mountain house from the fifties, restore it, move into it, and spend my days reading, gardening, making marmalade and sell it for a good cause, and wearing outrageously unfashionable clothes.

I have yet to win the lottery (I am working on it), but this weekend I found my mountain house from the fifties.

And here is the house. Build right at the edge of a cliff. You see only the two tops floors. there is a bottom floor, but not visible from this level. But this would be the actual house you live in, below is just work space.

Sunday morning, as I walked the dogs along the boulevard of Sofar, I stumbled upon an open gate. That does not happen often in Sofar. The entire village, in the old days a popular summer resort, connected by railroad to both Beirut and the Beqaa Valley,  is either shot to pieces, or seems to have been bought up by Gulf Arabs. In particular one Kuwaiti family, the Kharafis. The entire row of Sursock villas, overlooking the Lamartine valley, belong to the sons of Nasser Kharifi, who died some 6 years ago. 

Quite spectacular view. Need to get some windows back in there.

With the current situation, I have doubts that any of them is ever going to visit their home any time soon. That row of villas from the thirties and forties, with red tiled roofs resting on wooden rafters, have all been restored, a little too ostentatiously for my taste, but there is one on the side that probably was evacuated in the late seventies, never to be inhabited again. And that house is waiting for me to win the lottery.

I walk here quite often, and the gate, usually closed, was open last Sunday. So I am taking you on a tour of the old Lebanon, when Beirut was – for a short while – the Paris of the Middle East.

This would be the library. I will have a fire place installed.

The 3 floor house – quite a demure dwelling from the outside - is built on two different levels. The main entrance is on the first floor, whereas at the back of the house, the service entrance is one floor lower.

The house obviously was built with a staff in mind. The kitchen is on the bottom floor, together with storage rooms, the ‘chaudière’, and some small bedrooms with tiny and basic bathrooms.  Clearly the lady of the house was not into cooking, because on the first floor, there is the living and dining room, and what I think may have been the den, with a very tiny little kitchen, more like a pantry.

I think I will even keep the original bathrooms. They are fantastic! Just some scrubbing is needed.

There are two large bedrooms, each with walk in closets, and wonderfully fancy bathrooms. You can see from the shape of the bath tubs, that these were not simple build-in tubs, but nicely shaped ones.

The second floor has more bedrooms under the slanted wooden roof, all with their own bathrooms. The windows are made of wood, and so are the banisters. The doors, unfortunately, all have disappeared. 

I love the wooden windows.

The house, or should I say, my house, has obviously never been occupied by the Syrian army, who practically occupied just about everything up on that ridge there, because it still has the original mirrors, tubs, toilets and sinks. I have seen houses in Bois de Boulogne, for instance, way up above Bikfaya, that had been totally gutted, from the wall tiles to the wall sockets, even the copper pipes in the walls had been ‘extracted’. This one is pretty intact, apart from the doors.

And the trees and the grass. I will have to buy a lawn mower. But maybe I get a donkey, he will keep it short too. Although he might end up decimating my vegetable garden as well. As yo can see, this project needs some planning. 

It needs minor constructural repairs, but other than that, it is all about redecorating the place. Okay, maybe we need to work on that kitchen, because there is no way on Earth I am dragging dinner from down to the first floor on a daily basis and back again. Heating the place will cost a pretty penny, from the looks of the massive ‘chaudieres’ that are in place everywhere, but hey, when I win the lottery, that will not be an issue.

It's got a garage as well.

The grounds are fantastic as well. It has a fountain, and massive cedar trees all around, which need some trimming. There is a garage for the cars. My dogs will be able to roam freely, although I am not sure how that will go with the chickens and the peacocks I intend to keep as well. 

Anyway, these are all details. 

Right now I am working on that winning lottery ticket. And then I need to find the owner of that house way up in Sofar.

The house from the side. You can see the bottom floor as well here.