History and Architecture
of the Tabatabaee Home
The House of Tabatabaee is located in the city of Kashan, in the Soltan Amir Ahmad Allay near a tomb with the same name. Build in 1834-35 (Qajar era), it belongs in the historical mansions of Kashan, and it is considered the “Bride” of the traditional houses. Kashan is within the highly urbanized Isfahan metropolitan country of Iran (1). The remainder of the vernacular urban fabric of Kashan dates to developments during the Seljuk (early 9th to late 10th century i.e., 1037-1194) and Safavid eras (early 16th to mid-18th century i.e., 1501–1736). More recent buildings date back to the 19th century (Qajar era). That architectural fabric then began to decline in the 20th century Pahlavi era. Buildings are made with masonry mud or baked brick. Kashan has always been the core of ceramics, luster wear, knitting and weaving, decorated pottery, glazed tiles and the finest wool and silk carpets. The owner of the house was Haj Seyed Jafar Tabatabaee, a carpet merchant from the Iranian city Natanz, who moved to Kashan in order to export carpets to India and Russia.
Pic 1
It took over 10 years to build and there are two version on the story of the aesthetics of the decorations. The first one is considered a sort of a love story since Tabatabaee instructed that the decorations and the shapes used would be based on the legendary bird Homa (Sphinx) as it was his wife’s name (2). The other one has to do with his profession, since he was a carpet merchant, all the plasterwork used in the building are like the Persian carpet patterns. It was designed by the famous architect Ustad Ali Maryam Ameri, who later went on designing the house of Borudjerdi for the daughter of Tabatabaee. The house presents an astonishing interlacing of patterns carved in stone, as well as mirrors and stained-glass windows, all of which are on the inside.
Pic 2
It is dived in three parts, the Interior (Andaruni) for the family members, the Outside (biruni) which was the place for receiving guests and the (Khadameh) Quarters of the Servants. All together make almost 5000 sqm, consisting of 40 rooms, 4 courtyards, 3 windwards (Badgir), 2 basements, 20 doors and 2 qanats. Tabatabaei House has 5 entrances, although now only the main one can be used (3). The water needed for the residents was also supplied from 2 aqueducts called Dolatabadi and Nasrabadi. There are several courtyards in Tabatabaee’s house which, by their characteristics, make the building an example of traditional Persian architecture.
Out of the four yards, one central courtyard belonged to the exterior and two courtyards to the interior, and one to the crew. The courtyards are planted with heavenly fruits such as pomegranates and figs that reflect the beliefs of the time. An 80-year-old fig tree, meanwhile, has attracted much attention.
Pic 3
A very important key of the architectural features is the humility of the people in that era, which is also presented itself on the outside of the house. The entrance is relatively small and at first you don’t expect to see such a large building on the other side. After entering through the main door, you reach a winding passage at the end of which there is a hashti (entrance hall). When you go down the stairs, you can see a spacious and stunning courtyard with a large pool. There are 6 octagonal gardens full of flowers on both sides of the large pool that increase the freshness of the courtyard (4). There is a large central pool in front of the Birouni with surrounding gardens containing fruit trees and grape vines, which is an essential part of traditional Persian homes like the Tabatabaei House. The alcove is also located in this part of the house (5).
Pic 4
Pic 5
Shah-Neshin is the most attractive part of this house, located on the southern side. It is a room with seven doors and a high ceiling dedicated to host (Kashan rug design which is known as Medalion-Corner), has two larger pillars under the main arch and it was used to host the special guests and ceremonies (6). Paintings, moguls, and train decorations along with mirrors and plaster make this part of the home. It was given the nickname King’s room and next to it on both sides there are two room that were used for either fewer or less important guests.
Pic 6
In front of the Shah-Neshin there is a veranda (Ivan), the mirror work throughout the Ivan helps beautify the environment and also helps brighten the night, as the light of the stars would be reflected on the water. The roof of this porch is the most magnificent part of the house because, with the art of mirroring, the role of Kashan carpet known as lacquer and bergamot is beautifully implemented on it. Due to the presence of the mirror among its Stucco1, it is also known as the Mirror Hall. You will see a room with specific ornamentation which contains painting, Muqarnas, Stucco, Āina-kāri, and some lattice windows made of plaster. All these elements show marvelous detail of Islamic Architecture in Tabatabaei house. There are two rooms on both sides of Shah-Neshin as Gushvare (earnings), which used for regular guests. The yards with the exquisite paintings were supervised by the great Qajarid painter Abu’l-Hasan Khan Ghaffari Kashani otherwise known as Suni Al Mulk (Crafter of the Kingdom), who is said to have used his talents in the house and overseen its stucco decorations due to his close friendship with the owner. In the past, the porch in front of Shah-Neshin is recorded to be have been decorated with a carpet of the same pattern. The stars of the ceiling signify the importance of them in the dessert (7). The homeowner’s eldest son, Sayed Ali Tabatabaee, had been importing lanterns from the Ottoman government of that day.
Pic 7 Tabatabaee Natanzi Historical House
The other feature is Introversion, whose roots can be traced back to ancient Persia. Introvert architecture is a spatial pattern that tends to conceal what exists or occurs inside, insisting on privacy, seclusion and the secrecy of the house. The very beauty of the architecture could be observed only when you are inside the building or in its courtyard. This kind of style used in the hot and dry zone, is related to the people’s lifestyle, whom as stated above was focused on being humble and having no need for flaunting. Due to this style, the outdoor design of the house doesn’t draw attention and indicates its owner’s modesty.
The sunken courtyard is the hollow situation on the floor below the ground. This technique is useful for thermal insulation, water supply, natural ventilation and help create a comfortable temperature during summer and winter. Also, is offers great protection in the face of an earthquake. above the ground level, the building reaches the height of about 6 metres (including the wind towers), an elevation that fulfilled lots of purposes such as protection from sandstorms or the harsh dessert climate. It also provides the best place for the Badgirs (Bad=wind, Gir=catch) to properly ventilate the house and balance the overall temperature (8).
Pic 8
On the outer parts of the courtyard there are the winter and summer rooms. The position of the winter rooms is one that receives the most sun for the most hours, in order to save the heat that gathers for as long as possible these places are filled with fireplaces, while being made with a shorter ceiling design helps channel the heat all over the room. The winter rooms are also known as the Mirror rooms. The name was given after the design of the rooms that give the impression of an image in parallel mirrors. Standing in front of one door and paying attention to the next one, the visitor is drawn to the repetition of the door frames as if images of doors are repeated in the mirrors. On the other hand, the summer rooms are always the most shaded ones, having at least two doors on each side and a lot of windows. They are located next to the badgir and are arranged in a row to form a boundary between the crew yard and the outdoor courtyard (9).
On either side of the lounge and behind the earrings, there are symmetrically built and were housed by the crew when there were guest staying over. These yards played an important role in receiving and supplying light to the surrounding rooms and generally in lightening up the house. The backyards are also adorned with paintings and are considered exquisite works of Kashan art. These paintings depict people’s lives in the past and demonstrate activities such as asqueducts, litter preparation, hunting and many more.
There were ceremonies in the spring and summer in which the first floor was the gathering place for the men and the second floor was for the gathering of the women. The roofs of these courtyards are trapezoidal with a pond in the middle.
The trapezoidal shape causes no damage to the building and also helps in preserving it better. In the eastern backyard, there is a staircase that leads to the spring and is offers an other access to the stables.
The Tabatabaee stables are of two kind, permanent and temporary, each with its own application. Guests would entered the house near the king’s bedroom followed by the crew, who also entered the door after they had placed the animals in the stables. The crew would later go to their own section in the house via a separate staircase.
another very important characteristic we see in the early Persian architectural designs is the vernacular residential buildings, where natural light was principally exploited as the main source of energy (9).
Pic 9 The first row of designs represents the House of Tabatabaee
Light has always been the biggest key in the perception of space. It transforms the spatial context and is ultimately connected to time. It also plays an important role in helping humans in relation to their surroundings. The use of natural light once established, in an accordance to the multi-functional provisions of the environment, can offer the rebirth of the symbiosis between nature and the build environment (Fitch, 1972)2.
The Persian traditional architecture exploits the natural light to form and shape integrated interior spaces (Pirnia, 1992)3. To tackle the high intensity of sunlight, local architects tend to avoid the direct light into interior spaces through making use of ‘eluding’ components. The light reflected from the mirror works or the water surfaces is used to illuminate the interior. direct sunlight is allowed in only through a limited number of openings and after passing through wooden and or stone latticed windows covered with colored glasses (10).
Pic 10
There are two large basements in the Tabatabaee House, one can be reached from the outside while the second one from the inside. The temperature difference with the outside environment is around 15 to 20 degrees and its is especially noticeable in summer (11). The warm air of the desert enters the crypt through the wind tower and becomes heavy as a result of exposure to humid, moist soil. The air travels through the underground canals (called the trachea) and absorbs their deep sea coolness. This reduces the heat from 40°C to 20°C. In the crypt, there are also spaces above the floor, separated by a few steps from the yard. These places were intended for the elderly and disabled so they could enjoy the cool air of the crypt.
Pic 11
Indoors staircase of Tabatabaee House
1 Stucco is generally composed by aggregates, a binder and water, i.e. cement, water and sand. It is applied wet and hardens to very dense solid. Used as decorative coating for walls, ceilings and exterior walls.
2 Fitch, JM. (1972). American Building: The Environmental Forces That Shape It. Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3 Pirnia, MK. (1992). Iranian Islamic Architecture. Tehran: Soroush Danesh
References
Fitch, JM. (1972). American Building: The Environmental Forces That Shape It. Boston: Houghton Mifflin
Pirnia, MK. (1992). Iranian Islamic Architecture. Tehran: Soroush Danesh.
Pirnia M K (2008) Iranian architecture, Edited by Memarian G H, Tehran: Soroush Danesh Publications.
Memarian, GH. (2008). An introduction to Iranian Residential Architecture: Introverted Typology. Tehran: Soroush Danesh.
Aslani E, Abadi MZR, Sadrabadi AMA. (2014). THE ROLE OF INTROVERTED ARCHITECTURE AND URBAN DESIGN TO REDUCE ENERGY CONSUMPTION IN ORDER TO ACHIEVE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT WITH EMPHASIS ON WARM AND DRY CLIMATE. Pg.60-65
Langroudi A. Kamalifard S. (2018). A Conceptual Model for Climatic-responsive Vernacular Architectural Forms London: Conference: 2nd international Conference for Sustainable Design of the Built Environment At: The Crystal.
Holmes, Mike (5 September 2008). “Stucco presents a unique set of problems”. The Globe and Mail.
Henry, Alison; Stewart, John, eds. (2011). Practical building conservation. Mortars, plasters and renders. Farnham/Burlington: Ashgate Publishing. p. 87.
Ganjnameh, 1996. “Mansions of Kashan”. Cyclopedia of Iranian Islamic Architecture. Vol. 1. Tehran: Shahid Beheshti University. p. 50.
