Feral House

 

If ever I win the lottery, I am going to buy myself a house. This feral house, (see picture above) to be specific. It takes up about half a city block in Beirut, and is abandoned, neglected and overgrown. Beirut (and Lebanon) has loads of feral houses, but it is a universal phenomenon. I had to photograph it in bits and pieces, and then Photoshop made this out of it, which I thought was quite appropriate.

 

It’s the former house of Takkidine el-Solh, a onetime prime minister, who, like so many, eventually settled abroad and died there. I assume it belongs to the el Solh family, as the last inhabitant was Takkidine el-Solh.

 I would first clean up the garden, trim the trees, and fix the wall from the inside. The outside wall I would keep as is, you couldn’t find a more fitting one. I would subdivide it in small studios, and give a studio to each one of my friends. Downstairs, we’d have a huge communal kitchen, with slouchy couches, a fire place, bookcases against the wall and one long and narrow wooden dining table with chairs that do not fit together, and no TV.

 

Unfortunately, it is not for sale; people like that do not need the money.  Besides, I would first need to win the lottery. And in order to do that, I will have to actually play in the lottery. My friends will have to wait.