Youssef Aftimus

Youssef Aftimus (; 25 November 1866 – 10 September 1952) was a Lebanese civil engineer and architect who specialized in Moorish Revival architecture. Aftimus was the leading Lebanese architect and urban planner during the first half of the twentieth century, he is the author of many of Beirut's well known landmarks such as the Beirut Municipality Building, the Grand Serail's Hamidiyyeh clock tower, the Hamidiyyeh Fountain and the Barakat Building. Aftimus was also an urban planner, and politician and philanthropist.

Early life Youssef Aftimus was born on November 25, 1866, to a Greek Catholic family in the historic town of Deir el Qamar. He attended school at Collège des Frères Maristes in his hometown as of 1875. His first job was with the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, where he worked on the Hudson Canal and the Pennsylvania Railways.

In 1893 Aftimus worked for a pioneer in Moorish revival architecture and was chosen to design the "Persian Palace", "Turkish Village" and "Cairo Street" pavilions for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Cairo Street was a particularly popular attraction in the fair. Aftimus went on to work on the Egyptian pavilion at the Antwerp International Exposition of 1894 and the following year he went to Berlin on an extensive research trip on construction engineering before returning to Beirut in late 1896. In 1898 Youssef was recruited by the Municipality of Beirut as municipal engineer and he directed the construction of the Grand Serail Clock tower. During his work in Beirut he met Manouk Avedissian, better known as Bechara Effendi al-Muhandes, his future father-in-law. He married Rose Avedissian on May 1, 1899. 1932 Zouheir building (Haïgazian University) 1933 Beirut Municipality building, Sage Hall, Beirut University College (BUC).

Unrealized projects 1935 unbuilt project for a Greek Catholic cathedral. Protests finally led to the suspension of the decision to destroy the building in 2003 and the municipality of Beirut decided to acquire it in order to install a city memory museum with artifacts tracing the 7,000-year history of the city. The municipality obtained support from the government of France to advance the restoration. The museum, known as Beit Beirut (the House of Beirut), was inaugurated in 2017 on the eve of the anniversary commemorating the Lebanese Civil War.

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