The house

A collector's house, open to the sky of the medina.

Behind a door of the Kaât Bennahid quarter, Dar Zelda keeps eleven hundred square metres of a 19th-century merchant's house — the largest of the Margo collection. Once through the threshold, the house tells itself room by room: the sunlit patio and its fountain, the salons where the collection rests, the heated pool, the 18th-century painted salon, and a rooftop terrace with its jacuzzi over the medina.

Kaât Bennahid — 7 Derb Laâkar
Est. XIXᵉ — merchant's house
1,100 m² — three levels

the house — kaât bennahid quarter

The sunlit patio of Dar Zelda — the palm over the heated pool, white arcades and forged-iron balconies

fig. — the patio, midday

Chapter I — the patio & the fountain

A sunlit patio,
a fountain, and a heated pool.

The patio holds the house together, in the great tradition of the riads. A palm climbs towards the light, arcades and forged-iron balconies gather around it, and the fountain keeps up its murmur under the open sky. The day settles itself here: breakfast in the morning sun, a book in the shade of the arcades, mint tea on the way back from the souks.

At its centre, the pool — heated in every season, a rarity in the medina. In summer you slip into it at noon; in winter it steams gently while the salons keep their fires. At dusk, candles are set along the water, and the patio becomes the house's quietest salon.

Fountain: The murmur at the centre of the house
Pool: Heated — warm in every season
Patio: Arcades and a palm, open to the sky

The patio of Dar Zelda at dusk — the palm over the lit gallery, dinner set by the arcades — the patio, at dusk

The heated pool of Dar Zelda by candlelight, the evening gathered around the water

fig. 01 — the patio, the fountain

fig. 02 — the pool, by candlelight

Chapter II — the salons

The salons, where the collection rests.

Around the patio, the salons keep the slow hours of the house. Eclectic antiques gathered over a lifetime, exceptional rugs, furnishings signed by non-conformist artists — the collection lives here, along the corridors and by the fireplaces that warm the cooler evenings of the medina.

Upstairs, the douiria keeps the house's oldest treasure: an 18th-century ceremonial salon crowned with cupolas, its frescoes painted by hand beneath a ceiling of painted cedar — restored, intact, and slept in.

A fire, a rug, a fresco —
three centuries in the same room.

Sleep beneath the frescoes — Suite 01

The 18th-century ceremonial salon of Dar Zelda — cupolas, hand-painted frescoes and the painted-cedar ceiling above the day bed

A corridor of Dar Zelda — an antique armchair beneath framed works, the collection along the walls

The showpiece — inside the Douiria

fig. 03 — the ceremonial salon, 18ᵗʰ c.

fig. 04 — the works, along the walls

Chapter III — the rooftop

Up on the roof, a jacuzzi under the medina sky.

High above the derb, the terrace unfolds over the rooftops — banquettes along the ochre walls, sails stretched against the sun, potted palms and orange trees. Breakfast is served here facing the minarets; the afternoon belongs to the deckchairs; and when night falls over Kaât Bennahid, the jacuzzi steams quietly under the stars.

the rooftop — banquettes, sails, jacuzzi

The rooftop terrace of Dar Zelda at golden hour — banquettes and sails over the green-tiled walls of the medina — the terrace, golden hour

Breakfast on the terrace of Dar Zelda — a brass teapot and fresh orange juice on the zellige table, the medina beyond

fig. 05 — the terrace, evening

fig. 06 — breakfast, facing the minarets

Morning

Breakfast in the sun, the minarets of the medina for a horizon

Afternoon

Deckchairs and shaded banquettes under the sails

III

Night

The jacuzzi under the stars, dinner by lantern light

Chapter IV — the materials

Artisan woods,
forged iron and silks.

Nothing in the house comes off a shelf. The New Moroccan Style is made of matter first — woods worked by hand, iron bent at the forge, silks and wools chosen piece by piece, alongside the furnishings of non-conformist artists. Touch is the surest way to read the catalogue.

Woods: Cedar carved and painted by artisans — ceilings, doors, tataoui
Forged iron: Balconies, balustrades and lanterns, hammered by hand
Silks & wools: Berber rugs and soft weaves, room by room
Brass & zellige: Tea trays, basins, and the tilework of Fez

Mint tea on a brass tray at Dar Zelda — the teapot set on a stone table in the patio — spec. i — brass, the tea hour

A room of Dar Zelda beneath its painted-cedar ceiling — dark silks and wools over the bed, a fireplace beside it — spec. ii — painted cedar, silks

Whether you come for the souks a few steps away, for the frescoes of the douiria, or to do nothing at all beside the warm water — Dar Zelda is your anchor in the medina. The simplicity of luxury: that is the whole of it.

Dar Zelda — 7 Derb Laâkar, Kaât Bennahid nine keys, catalogued 01 → 09

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