jump to navigation search heliopolis company for housing and development type private founded february 2 1906 founder douard empain 1 headquarters 28 ibrahim el lakani street heliopolis cairo egypt key people mohamed el shahwy chairman of the board services till december 31 1991 2 heliopolis tram management . utilities management for heliopolis . ie water power roads ... net income egp 74 280 000 2006 us 13 170 000 3 total assets egp 74 171 000 000 2006 us 13 150 000 000 4 number of employees 933 5 website heliopoliscompany.com the cairo electric railways & heliopolis oases company arabic is the original name of the heliopolis company for housing and development arabic a company formed in cairo in 1906 in a partnership between a consortium of belgian developers led by douard empain and boghos nubar pasha son of the former egyptian prime minister nubar nubarian . contents 1 history 1.1 history 1.2 design 1.3 world wars and after 1.4 becoming a presidential palace 2 cairo international airport 3 references 4 external links history edit though a railway company by name the company played just as great a role as a property development company once the company acquired a very large area 25 square kilometers northeast of cairo where the ancient city of heliopolis once stood . on that land the company built galaxy company in effect a new city called the heliopolis oasis with rail and tramway links to the centre of cairo . not only did the company build a great number of houses and apartments but also the heliopolis palace hotel which is now the egyptian presidential palace restaurants shops churches mosques and hospitals . upon completion some parts of the project were sold off as separate companies . history edit on september 23 1905 the world celebrated the official date of this new hotel . conceived by belgian architect ernest jaspar his birth boasted 400 shows including 55 private shows . its banquet halls were amongst the biggest anywhere . the utilities were the state of the art technology of the time . all had been constructed and put together by the contracting firms leon rolin & co. and padova dentamaro & ferro the biggest two civil contractors in egypt . siemens schuckert of berlin fitted the hotel s web of electric cables and installations . 6 design edit as though intentional its severe almost forbidding exterior contrasted sharply with the extravagance of the interior . a 1912 visitor recounts beyond the reception offices are two lavishly decorated rooms in the louis xiv and louis xv styles respectively and then comes the central hall which is a dream of beauty and symmetry . here the architecture which is responsible for so many wonderful effects in heliopolis reaches its artistic zenith . damascus made oriental lamps hung from every corner and cranny hang . king albert i king of belgium who stayed in the hotel with his wife queen elisabeth for a month said c est une merveille upon entering the main hall . the main hall which was almost 589 meters2 had a 55 meter wide dome designed by alexander marcel of the french institute and decorated by georges claude was carpeted with the finest oriental rugs and fitted with large floor to ceiling mirrors draperies and a large marble fireplace . twenty two italian marble columns connected the parquet to the ceiling . to one side of the hall there was the dining room which seated 150 guests and to the other was the billiard hall with two full sized thurston tables as well as a priceless french one . the hotel s mahogany furniture were supplied by maple s furniture london . the hotel s area was so large that a railway system was installed running through the hotel ; passing by offices kitchens refrigerators storerooms and the staff housing . 6 world wars and after edit during world war i and ii the hotel was transformed into something for british soldiers . after world war ii air travel reduced the average tourist stay to a few days . as tourism became a mega industry massive hotels emerged in egypt with interiors calculated on the basis of return per square meter . unable to compete the hotel became less popular . 6 becoming a presidential palace edit in the 1980s which marks the beginning of the mubarak regime the heliopolis palace hotel was declared the headquarters of the new presidential administration after becoming the location of various government departments for over 10 years . 6 cairo international airport edit in october 2003 a presidential decree stated that the heliopolis company for housing and development would receive a 1 695 acre 6.86 km2 piece of land in new cairo as a compensation for the land that was taken to build the cairo international airport . 2 references edit samir raafat 1996 11 16 . when maadi replaced heliopolis . egyptian mail . retrieved 2008 03 10 . a b company profile pdf in arabic . p. 01 . archived from the original pdf on 2007 10 09 . retrieved 2008 03 10 . company profile pdf in arabic . p. 13 . archived from the original pdf on 2007 10 09 . retrieved 2008 03 10 . company profile pdf in arabic . p. 03 . archived from the original pdf on 2007 10 09 . retrieved 2008 03 10 . company profile pdf in arabic . p. 14 . archived from the original pdf on 2007 10 09 . retrieved 2008 03 10 . a b c d samir raafat 1998 03 19 . the heliopolis palace hotel . cairo times . retrieved 2008 03 10 . external links edit heliopolis company for housing and development s homepage retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title cairo electric railways and heliopolis oases company & oldid 743330561 categories companies of egyptrailway companies of egyptcompanies established in 1906companies based in cairorailway companies established in 1906hidden categories cs1 arabic language sources ar articles containing arabic language text navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 9 october 2016 at 04 16 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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