La Bodega's Belle Epoque Home

Exploring the Baehler's Mansions

The setting for both the Bistro and Aperitivo are the beautiful red-brick Baehler Mansions. Although their once striking interiors are now lost in the maze of Cairo's buildings, these mansions were the starting developments for modern Zamalek and represent the empire of one of Egypt's most prominent foreign businessmen.

The early 1860s, the island of Zamalek was simply a large park, famous for its exotic collections of plants brought from around the world. As part of the fanfare that marked the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, it welcomed its first residents at the Gezira Palace, a quickly-constructed guesthouse made to welcome visiting dignitaries for the opening of the canal. After the celebrations died down, the area continued to develop, but only slowly. The Gezira Club was founded in 1882 as Egypt's first sporting club, and the Fish Grotto was established at around the same time. The royal family, who had fallen on hard times after significant debt problems with the canal's construction, decided to sell the palace, at first to a Greek Basha who turned it into a hotel, and then eventually to Swiss entrepreneur Charles Baehler.

Baehler, an accountant by education, started as a junior employee in Egypt in 1889 with the Shepard, and within a few years became the general manager of the Egyptian Hotels Company, at the time the largest hotel group south of the Mediterranean and at the head of an empire that included most of the major properties in the country, and would even expand in the 30s to the King David Hotel in Jerusalem.

To expand his empire and take advantage of Cairo's Western expansions, Baeher founded one of the first urban development companies in Zamalek, believing that the neighborhood could be a future business district. Taking a piece of the garden of his newly-acquired palace, Baehler contracted the construction of Alex Skynder, son of the renowned palace designer Antonio Lasciac.

Since their construction, the interiors have become some of the most well-recognized of Cairo's Belle Epoque architecture, with the detailed wrought-iron elevator shafts, cool marble work, and their uniquely large foyers.

Steeped in history, the Baeher Mansions today call a number of Egyptian institutions home, including La Bodega. It is through the historical significance of the Baeher Mansions, as well as the eclectic neighborhood of Zamalek as a whole, that we derive an essential part of the spirit of La Bodega.