eaturing some professional and mercantile businesses and their founders in Egypt according to a 1909 report.
Some prominent members of the business community, Alexandria
R. Stabile.
Alexander Th. Kitroeff.
Frank C. Hasselden.
Raphael A. Huri.
Adolphe Bogdadly.
A. R. Giro.
Chas. A. H. Alderson.
S. Pitner.
Alberto Cumbo.
Fritz Hess.
Some Cairo Merchants
J. Collacott.
Giuseppe Parvis.
A. Hadjetian.
S. Sasson.
Bakr Mohamed Choeb.
M. Cicurel.
N. Hadjetian.
I. Hornstein.
Businessmen of various nationalities in the principal towns of Egypt
Vita Israèl.
G. Bollhalder.
Vacuum Oil Company
The
Vacuum Oil Company of Rochester, New York, was established in Egypt
circa 1896. The products sold by this company were all kinds of
lubricating oils, refined oils, stoves, lamps, heaters, oil cabinets,
etc. It had bulk stations all over Egypt, especially in the towns and
large villages such as Assiout, Benha, Beni Souef, Chebin el-Kom,
Damanhour, Fayoum, Keneh, Luxor, Mansourah, Mehalla el-Kebira, Menuf,
Samanud, and Zagazig, but the two most important were at Alexandria and
Port Said. At the former place there was also a large can factory, which
turns out upwards of 5,000 tins or bidons a day. The oil thus packed
was sent to all parts of Egypt, while from the different bulk stations
already mentioned oil was conveyed in tank wagons to the outlying
districts and sold either to small retail dealers or direct to the
consumer. In places where the roads were not sufficiently good for tank
wagons, camels were employed as a means of transport. The various depots
already mentioned, as well as Cairo, had the oil sent to them in bulk
and tins by railway tank cars, or by a bulk barge, where practicable,
from the two principal bulk stations, Alexandria and Port Said. At the
latter station, benzine in bulk was also kept to supply the needs of
Egypt in this particular. The Vacuum Oil Company had throughout Egypt an
army of more than five hundred employees, which number was continually
being increased. The general manager for Egypt was Mr. C. Xippas.
Gusman & Dentamaro
F. Gusman.
The
above firm of engineers and contractors was established in 1905 by
Felix Gusman and Emmanuel Dentamaro. Their first big undertaking was the
Khargeh Junction, for the Corporation of Western Egypt. Several other
contractors had refused the work, owing to the shortness of the time
allowed, for the junction, including the banks, pitching, and
skew-bridge, had to be completed in forty days, before the time of flood
Nile. Gusman & Dentamaro, however, completed the work within the
time specified, and the Corporation then entrusted them with the
construction of the line from Khargeh Junction to Khargeh, across about
120 miles of desert separating the Oasis from the Nile Valley and the
trunk railway. The work was quite a triumph of engineering skill under
most difficult conditions. The contractors practicallylived in the
desert during the five hundred days which it took them to complete the
line. They employed between two and three thousand men per diem, and had
to supply them with fresh water rations, and, during the winter, with
wood. When the line was opened, the firm were publicly thanked, and were
given a substantial bonus. In the meantime, Mr. Felix Gusman secured
the contract for building the station dwellings on the Upper Egypt line
for the Egyptian State Railways, and the work was carried through by Mr.
Felix Gusman to the entire satisfaction of the authorities. The firm
also undertook the construction of an important section of a line
through the Mokattam Hills, near the Citadel, Cairo, for the Egyptian
Delta Light Railway. The work involved a huge cutting in solid rock and
the piercing of the only two tunnels in Egypt, and was satisfactorily
completed in less than one year. Their next contract was for reclaiming
the foreshore and making a quay round the Roda Island estate for the
United Egyptian Land Company.
Another
branch of the firm's business was the supply of bricks and other
building materials. They had large kilns at Khatatbah, Lower Egypt, and
they had a large standing order from the Egyptian Government for over
twenty thousand specially manufactured bricks a day. They had also a
concession of six quarries in the neighbourhood of Cairo, and they
supplied large quantities of stone to Government and to private
contractors. Finally, they owned various tracts of land for building and
agricultural purposes, and they undertook all kinds of surveying, land
reclamation, and irrigation work. Quite recently they had taken on a
large and important contract in the Beheireh Province for the Irregation
Department of the Egyptian Government, the work being estimated to cost
EGP 20,520. In 1897 Mr. Felix Gusman came to Egypt as an engineer under
the Egyptian Delta Light Railways, and was employed in making extensive
surveys and in the construction of various railway- lines. Some four
years later he joined the Egyptian State Railways as civil engineer in
their technical department, and remained with them two years. During
that time he took three months' leave in order to assist in making a
model plaster plan of Egypt for the Daira Sanieh for exhibition at St.
Louis. Leaving the State Railways he joined a private engineering firm,
for whom he made large surveys of waste land with a view of carrying out
extensive schemes of irrigation ; and later he was employed upon
similar work by Prince Ibrahim Hilmi Pasha. In 1905, having secured the
contract already mentioned with the Corporation of Western Egypt, he
took Mr. E. Dentamaro into partnership with him.
Mr.
Emmanuel Dentamaro, a son of the late Francesco Dentamaro, a landed
proprietor of Bari, Italy, was born in 1880. A self-educated man, he was
apprenticed at an early age to the masonry trade, and improved his
leisure by attendance at night schools. In 1896 he joined a well-known
firm of contractors in Egypt, and was engaged on work for the Egyptian
Delta Light Railways. He continued his studies by means of a course of
technical correspondence and with the help of private teachers, and in
course of time he acquired a knowledge of the French, Arabic and English
languages. After seven years with the firm he started business on his
own account, and eventually he joined Mr. Gusman.
Cairo Sewage Transport Company, Ltd.
In
1887, the company introduced the Talard steam vacuum system, by means
of which the entire contents of a fosse or waste water can be extracted
without causing the faintest odour, leaving the slightest trace, or
giving any trouble. Moreover, the operation could be carried out by day
or night with the utmost rapidity. Since 1895 the Company had directed
their attention also towards the supply of manures. The clearances
brought to the dépotoirs were treated scientifically, and some of the
best qualities of fertilizers so obtained, contained as much as from 1¾
to 3 per cent. of nitrogen, about 2½ per cent. of phosphoric acid, and
about ½ per cent, of potash. The products were supplied direct to
cultivators in different parts of the country. In recognition of the
services which they had rendered to agriculture, the company had been
awarded four silver medals at various exhibitions in Cairo. In 1899 the
Company absorbed the business of the Société Générale Égyptienne des
Engrais, and in the following year added to their activities the
preparation of abattoir manures, such as poudre d'os, poudre de viande,
and sang pulvérisé. The capital of the company was over EGP 16,000, with
a reserve fund of over EGP 9,500. In 1908 a dividend of 10 per cent.
with a bonus of 2 per cent. was paid on the ordinary shares, whilst a
dividend of 7 per cent. was paid regularly on the ordinary shares.
In
Cairo the general offices of the company were in the Sharia
el-Cherifien, while the works and dépotoirs were situated at Old Cairo,
the Tanneries, Abou-Seoud, and Abbassieh. Branches had also been opened
at Tantah, Damanhour, Mansourah, Damietta, Zagazig and Port Said. The
general manager was Mr. Henry Meyer, a Swiss, whose connection with the
company dates from 1886. He was one of the founders of the Artesian
Boring and Prospecting Company, and of the Manure Company of Egypt. The
directors were Messrs. E. H. Day, T. Hunter Jones, A. Bircher and G.
Blum.
Boyes, Shilston & Co.
During
their six years' existence the firm of Boyes, Shilston & Co.,
engineers, shipbuilders, and contractors, of the Cairo Engine Works, had
secured a number of important Government contracts from the railways,
posts and telegraphs, prisons, and sanitary departments, which had kept
their works on the banks of the Nile continuously at work. They
undertook all descriptions of iron work, construction work, and general
repairs, for which they had ample facilities. Their foundry could make
castings up to two tons, and their repair shop was equipped with the
machinery necessary for all classes of engine work. They also did a
considerable amount of outside construction and erecting work. Their
shipbuilding business had largely increased. In this department their
work consisted chiefly of the construction of dahabeas, lighters,
barges, and various types of sailing vessels such as were seen in such
numbers on the Nile. The general conduct of the business was under the
personal supervision of the partners, Mr. Mark G. Boyes and Mr. V. G.
Shilston. The mechanics and workmen were Europeans and Arabs who had
been specially trained in the service of the firm. Boyes, Shilston &
Co., were the agents in Egypt for Blackstone & Co., Ltd., of
Stamford, who supplied portable and stationary oil engines and
corn-grinding mills; E. R. & F. Turner, Ltd., of Ipswich,
manufacturers of corngrinding mills and Hour-dressing machines; and
other well known firms. For the specialities of these firms as well as
for machines used for irrigation and general purposes Boyes, Shilston
& Co. were able to place numerous orders. Mr. Mark G. Boyes started
the business in 1902, and was joined about the middle of 1907 by Mr. V.
G. Shilston, who was formerly manager of works to the Hamburg and
Anglo-American Nile Company.
Ghezzo & Fedrigo
Since
circa 1898 Ghezzo & Fedrigo had carried on business in Cairo as
building contractors, and had completed many large undertakings,
including two syphons at Abonumberos for the Irrigation Department in
1900, one school in Fayoum Province, a new prison at Zagazig,
enlargements to the prisons at Tantah and Manchia, renovations to the
ancient Fortress of Babylon at Old Cairo, the new reformatory at Ghizeh,
the building of which occupied three years, two mansions for the Wakfs
Administration, etc. The partners in the business were both of Italian
origin. Mr. Luigi Ghezzo was a son of the late Ciriaco Ghezzo, a former
contractor and stevedore at Trieste. He was educated at the Milan
Polytechnical School, where he took his diploma in 1881, as engineer. He
was then for twelve years engaged on the Parma-Suzera and Parma-Spezzia
Railways. In 1893 he joined the Salonica-Constantinople Railway as
chief engineer, and two years later accepted a similar post on the
Sofia-Roman Railway. He came to Egypt in 1897 as chief engineer in
charge of the construction of the Palais de Justice, Cairo. He was an
assessor judge of the Mixed Tribunals. Mr. Ercole Fedrigo, born in 1866,
joined his father, the late Luigi Fedrigo, a building contractor, in
1882, and worked for three years in the construction of tunnels through
the Romano mountains. Since the completion of that work he had been
variously employed ; the chief works in which he had taken part being
the Nuoro Railway, near Naples; the Arsenal at Taranto, Italy; works at
Massana, Africa, for the Italian Military Engineering Department, and
the Arsenal at Campo di Marti. He came to Egypt in 1893, and was engaged
in the construction of the Palais de Justice, Cairo, until 1899, when
he started business in partnership with Mr. Ghezzo. He was an assessor
judge of the Italian Consular Court.
Minoterie Antoine Sant
Founded
in 1870, the Minoterie Antoine Sant, located on El Cheikh Said Street,
Saptieh in Cairo, was equipped with the most advanced milling equipment
by means of which it gave a daily production of 180 to 200 flour bags.
The Minoterie was also busy working on behalf of other traders who bring
their wheat and have it prepared at the mill for an agreed price per
quantity of seeds. Mr. Antoine Sant was born in 1877 and since 1898, the
date of the death of his father, he became the owner of the so-called
'La Minoterie' or Flour Mill and was immediately involved in this
industry.
Ferrero & Co.
With
a turnover of over EGP 200,000 per annum, Ferrero & Co., general
merchants and commission agents, ranked among the largest firms of the
kind in Egypt. Their chief imports were textile goods, iron and
earthenware. They represented Cochran and Fleming, pottery
manufacturers, of Glasgow; Jas. Kenyon and Son, Ltd., of Bury, wholesale
suppliers of Manchester goods; Newman, Smith and Newman, Ltd.,
furniture dealers; the Compagnie Française des Indes et de l'Extrême
Orient; R. Ditmar, Gebrüder, Brünner, Ltd., a Viennese firm of lamp
manufacturers and metal workers; Heinrich Brinkmann & Co., wholesale
ironmongers, of Iserlohn; F. Schmitt, Vienna, dealer in woollen goods;
the Neukirchner Druckfabriks, manufacturers of cotton prints; the
Verreries Rénies et Familleureux, a Belgium Company exporting glassware;
and Messrs. Zosenheim & Co., of Leeds, makers of woollen goods. The
firm were also agents for the Netherlands Fire Insurance Company, the
German Marine Insurance Company, the Cosmos Life Insurance Company, and
the Fatum Accident Assurance Companies. Their Cairo offices were
situated in the Rue Mousky, and they had branches at Alexandria, Port
Said, and Suez. The business had been carried on continuously since
1866, though the style of the firm had twice been changed. It was
established by Zachmann & Co., and was taken over in 1875 by
Bretschneider & Co. The proprietor, Mr. A Ferrero, joined the firm
as manager in 1892, was admitted into the partnership ten years later,
and assumed control of the business in 1906. He was one of the founders
of the International Chamber of Commerce.
Société Anonyme Agricole et Industrielle d'Egypt
This
Company was incorporated in Antwerp on October 5, 1895, in the form of a
partnership by shares of Georges A. Eid et Cie, with a capital of
2,500,000 francs. By Khedivial decree of May 15, 1897 it was transformed
into a limited company, with an initial capital of 5,000,000 francs.
Its Head Office was established in Cairo at Rue Gameh Charkass, with an
office in Antwerp at No. 11 Place Leopold. According to its Statutes,
the purpose of the Company was the progress of the agricultural industry
in Egypt, and, to this end, the undertaking of all soil improvement
works, in particular by irrigation, drainage, dyking, desalination,
drying and land clearing; the distribution and sale of water, the
manufacture and trade of fertilizers, the processing of agricultural
products; participation in industrial enterprises, the success of which
could contribute to the social goal; finally all purchases, sales,
exchanges, rentals of rural or urban land and buildings and the
operation of any agricultural or land businesses. This Company's capital
had been gradually increased to the figure of 46 million francs in
1909, including 12,500,000 francs of shares and 33,500,000 francs of
bonds. Its properties represented on January 31, 1908 an area of 40,672
feddans or nearly 17,000 hectares, costing 45,729,241 francs and was
worth nearly 58,000,000 francs in 1909. In addition, the Company took a
stake of 3 million francs in the capital of the Société Agricole de Kafr
el-Dawar, incorporated on May 22, 1907. For the year 1907, the Company
obtained 1,075,000 francs in net agricultural income of its properties
and Frs. 2,652,000 of profits on sale of 1,288 hectares of land. The
average dividends distributed to capital shares during the 12 years
since the Company was founded was 7.0 percent per year, to which was
added the dividend allocated to founders' shares and which was
equivalent to nearly 3.0 percent per year. 70 percent, or together an
average of 11 percent. These dividends required the distribution of a
total sum of 7,914,497 francs, while the Company at the same time took
from its profits forecasts and reserves which amounted on the date of
the last balance sheet of 1909 to a sum exceeding two thirds of this,
i.e. Frs. 5,937,980 equivalent to approximately 45 percent of the
capital of the Company.
The
Company's lands were sold for the most part to indigenous farmers with
easy payment and they, in turn, made a very significant profit on their
acquisitions, often exceeding that obtained by the Company. The Company
carried out all the work of leveling, irrigation, drainage and
construction of agricultural farms, etc., while the buyers in taking
land already equipped with the necessary improvements, they only had to
devote themselves to ordinary cultivation work to obtain these brilliant
results. The Company's properties, made up of five main estates and a
few large or medium-sized farms, were distributed between Lower, Upper
Egypt and Fayoum. We see from what had been explained above that the
Company was not only among the largest landowners in Egypt, but that at
the same time it was a factor of social and technical progress for
Egyptian agriculture. The Egyptian fellah in general plows his field
well, manures it and maintains it according to the rules of the art; but
first of all it was necessary to provide the land entrusted to them
with access roads, constructions for its habitation, pipes for
irrigation and drainage, machines for leveling it, etc.; these
improvements, to be carried out successfully, must be directed by
competent technicians with considerable capital; This is precisely the
role of the Agricultural and Industrial Society of Egypt, which, by
putting previously fallow land within reach of the farmer, was an
important economic factor for the agricultural progress of the country.
The Board of Directors were Messrs. Alfred Havenith, in Antwerp,
President; Maurice Bretschneider, in Cairo, Managing Director; Georges
A. Eïd, in Cairo, Director-General Manager; Frédéric Jacobs, in Antwerp;
Charles Le Grelle, in Brussels; Ernest de Hulst, in Cairo; Alphonse Van
de Put, in Antwerp; Aloïs Verbeke, in Ghent. The Commissioners were MM.
Ullens Osy, in Antwerp; Léon Fuchs, in Antwerp; Raphaël Finzi, in
Cairo.
Luigi Gavasi
Luigi
Gavasi came to Egypt as an engineer in 1881 at the Compagnie Générale
des Travaux Publics, and when the Company had liquidated in 1905, he
decided to stay in Cairo as an engineer, architect-builder on his own
account. His first contract was for the construction of 25 kilometers of
Chiben el-Kom railway, and he was engaged for similar work in Upper
Egypt. Since that time, he himself had taken on as an architectural
engineer, the interpreter of several works, among which we can mention:
The Udland Building, the Cormel Buildings, the Green Buildings, the
Gabalarry Bey building; the houses of Mesiaca Pasha, Mesiaca Bey,
Mosseri and Moïse Suarès villas, and many other constructions. Mr.
Gavasi was the son of the late Carlo Gavasi, a well-known merchant from
Voghere (Italy), and was born in 1848. He studied at the University of
Pavia, where he received his engineering degree from the Chamber of
Deputies of Rome in 1877. He entered the construction of the Italian
Government's railways, as an engineer on the Catanzaro-Reggio line, and
three years later he lived there for twelve months before coming to
Egypt. He married Mademoiselle Vernoni, the daughter of the late
Alexandre Vernoni, a former government official. He had four children.
Of his two boys, the eldest, Charles, was engaged in a career in
agriculture, and the youngest, Guido, was an architect, and helped his
father in the management of his businesses.
P. Boyer & L. Parizot
The
first big contract undertaken by Boyer & Parizot, engineers and
architects, Cairo, was for the construction of the Economical Railways
in Lower Egypt, later called the Delta Light Railways. This occupied
five years, and they had since erected the various tramway stations in
Cairo. Among other general works for which they had been responsible may
be mentioned: the buildings and installations for the sugar refineries
at Abu Kurkas and at Beba, iron sheds for the Kom Mombo Company, two
wharves on the Red Sea for the Gabel el-Tor, several iron structures for
the Suez Canal Company, besides numerous bored cisterns, sluice
regulators, and other irrigation works, bridges, dahabiehs, barges, etc.
They were also general contractors to the Public Works Department for
Cairo, Helouan and Gizeh, and had built or renovated several Government
schools, and three bridges over the Ibrahimieh Canal, while various
other works at Minieh in Upper Egypt were still in hand. Messrs. Boyer
& Parizot held concessions for the employment of the Matrai system
of reinforced concrete, and for the Pauchot system of armored stone. The
firm were represented on the International Chamber of Commerce.
Siemens-Schuckert-Werke
Two
of the leading firms of electrical engineers on the Continent,
Siemens-Schuckert-Werke and Siemens & Halske, were represented in
Egypt and the Soudan by Mr. Gustav Grob, who had his offices in the Rue
Kasr-el-Nil, Cairo. The firms Siemens & Halske and Schuckert-Werke
amalgamated in 1904, and since that date Siemens-Schuckert-Werke had
undertaken the supply of apparatus, such as dynamos, cables, etc., for
strong currents, while Siemens & Halske had devoted themselves to
the manufacture of smaller kinds of apparatus, such as telephones,
laboratory instruments, etc. The two firms had a joint capital of about
200,000,000 marks, and owned large factories at Berlin, Nürnberg, and
Vienna. They were originally represented in Egypt by Messrs.
Bretschneider & Co., but in 1900 they opened a branch in Cairo and
entrusted the management to Mr. Grob, who had been sent out by them in
the previous year as consulting engineer. Since 1899 they had completed a
great number of large installations of electric light and power plants
in Egypt, among which may be mentioned those for the Société Général de
Pressage and the Customs House at Alexandria ; the Savoy Hotel at
Assouan; Prince Djemil Toussoun's estate at Benha; Shepheard's, the
Gezireh Palace, and the Semiramis hotels, the Post Office, the Egyptian
State Railways buildings, and the cigarette factories of M. Melachrino
& Co., Vafiadis, and Melkonian, in Cairo ; the electric lighting
works for the Ezbekieh Quarter of the Société Belge- Egyptienne in
Cairo, and those for public lighting at Ismailia, Port Tewfik, Suez, and
Khartoum; and the Winter Palace Hotel at Luxor. Mr. Grob was also
managing director of the Electricity and Ice Supply Company, Ltd., who
had large installations at Suez and Ismailia. Born at Wintertour,
Switzerland, in 1873, he took his diploma at the Polytechnic School at
Zurich in 1898, and before joining Siemens & Halske obtained a
practical knowledge of engineering with Sulzer Bros., of Wintertour, and
Brown, Boveri & Co., of Baden. He was a member of the German and of
the Swiss Societies of Electricians.
Gharbieh Land Company
The
Gharbieh Land Company was founded principally with the object of
purchasing and improving land in the neighbourhood of Ras el-Khalig. The
greater part of this land was Government property, which presented
certain characteristics that rendered comparatively easy the carrying
out of such a project. The Government, however, put off the sale of its
land until the Assouan Dam was raised, and the company therefore started
work on some 8,700 feddans it had purchased from private owners. Though
it was anticipated that the reclamation of this land would occupy a
period of eight or nine years, it had been possible to carry it out in a
much shorter time, owing to the exceptional qualities of the soil and
to the activity with which the operations had been carried out. The most
important improvements were finished in less than two and a half years,
and their effects were already being felt in a manner which exceeds the
expectations of the promoters.
The
capital consisted of EGP 400,000, in shares of EGP 4, besides which
100,000 founders' shares of no fixed value had been issued. In 1909 the
Company had altogether some 8,300 feddans of land in the province of
Gharbieh ; and up to the end of 1908 they had sold 504 feddans at a
profit of EGP 23,765. The chairman and managing director was Mansour N.
Shakour Pasha, and the other members of the board were Messrs. Leopold
Du Monceau, Ernest Rolin, Phillipe Louis von Hemert. and Ed. Thys, Wacyf
Bey Boutros Ghali and Abdel Hamid Sioufi Bey. The offices were at No.
9, Chareh Kantaret el-Dekka, Cairo.
Theodore Nicolas Coressy Koressios
As
contractor, engineer, and architect, Mr. T. N. Coressy Koressios had
carried on business in Egypt since 1900. He built the Meteorological
Station at Helouan, the Muderia Tribunal building, and the Post Office
at Zagazig. It was he who opened the Abou Zabel basalt quarries to
provide road metal for the Alexandria Municipal Council. He was a
director of the Nile Transport Company, the Loans Bank and Warehouses
Company, Ltd., the Auto-Cabs and Auto Garage Company, Ltd., and many
other concerns. A son of the late Nicolas Koressios, a former merchant,
he was educated in France, taking diplomas for engineering and
architecture at l'Ecole National des Pouts et Chaussers, and l'Ecole des
Beaux Arts, Paris. He spent eighteen months as an engineer on the
Paris-Lyons Railway. For two years he was manager of the North Eastern
Railway of Greece, and in 1895 he accepted a similar position on the
Mondania-Broussa Railway in Turkey. Eventually he was appointed chief
engineer and manager of the harbour works at Clio, an island opposite
Smyrna. Mr. Koressios was a member of the Paris Association of
Engineers.
Les Grands Garages d'Egypte
Les
Grands Garages d'Egypte engaged in all branches of the motor trade,
from the importation and garaging of cars and launches to the execution
of repairs and the supply of spare parts. The Company was formed in
1905, with a capital of EGP 8o,ooo, for the purpose of taking over and
extending the business of La Société Anonyme Egyptienne d'électricité.
The directors were J. W. Williamson, Allan Joseph, Henry Phillpots, and
E. A. Perkins (managing director), while the manager was Mr. E. W.
Flower. The Cairo garage, offices, and shops, situated in the Quartier
Maarouf, belonged to the Company. At the showrooms in the Rue
Kasr-el-Nil, near the Savoy Hotel, might be seen cars of many
descriptions, the Company having the sole agency for such well-known
makes as the Renault, Mors, Brasier, Brooke, Rover, and Clement Cars,
and for the Krieger electric carriages. Private motor carriages might be
hired at reasonable rates, and private cars might be garaged in
specially constructed fire-proof buildings. For electric cars there was a
separate garage. The repair shops were equipped with the most modern
requirements, and special departments had been provided for vulcanizing
tyres and painting cars. The machinery was electrically driven from
motor plant of 75 h.-p. The staff employed numbers on an average seventy
men. The Company was responsible for the introduction of taxi-cars, and
in 1909 had no fewer than thirty of these vehicles at the disposal of
the public. There was a branch establishment in Alexandria, the offices
being in the Rue Antoine and the showrooms in the Rue Rosette. Both in
Cairo and Alexandria the garages were open day and night.
Albert Tomich
After
three years' practical experience with a local firm of building
contractors, Mr. Albert Tomich started business on his own account in
Cairo in 1899, and he had received many certificates testifying to the
good work done by him. A son of the late Adolphe Tomich, he is of French
origin, and was born in Cairo in 1876. Educated primarily in Egypt, he
continued his engineering studies in Italy, and then went to France to
study architecture. He was unable to complete the last-named course,
however, circumstances obliging his return to Egypt in 1896. He was
married to Louisa, a daughter of Samuel Kasmir Bey, late of the
Treasury.
A. St. John Diamant
During
his six years' residence in Egypt, Mr. A. St. John Diamant, who was
entitled to a prominent position among local architects, had designed
numerous important buildings, including branches of the National and
Agricultural Banks ; the Savoy Chambers, which comprise offices and
bachelors' flats and were unique in their way in Cairo; houses for the
Delta Land Investment Company, Limited; private residences for Judge
Vere Alston, Judge Bond, Cassim Bey Emin, Major Charles Spong, Mr.
Montague Summers, Mr. R. E. Monteith-Smith, and others; and a large
warehouse for the Vacuum Oil Company, Limited. Before establishing his
own practice, he was for a time employed on the Daira Sanieh and
designed various engineering works in Upper Egypt. He was next appointed
Assistant Architect for the Standard Life Assurance Company's offices
at Cairo; and in February, 1907, was appointed official architect to the
Agricultural Bank of Egypt. In 1909 he was engaged in the erection of
an important building for the Gresham Life Assurance Society, Limited.
Mr. Diamant was a member of the Cairo Turf and Khedivial Sporting Clubs
G. Garozzo & Sons
The late Cav. Giuseppe Garozzo.
Francesco Garozzo.
Fire Brigade Station at Kom el-Deka neighborhood, Alexandria, Contracting work by G. Garozzo.
Construction
of the Egyptian Museum, undertaken by G. Garozzo and F. Zafferani,
contractors. Placement of the Isis Keystone by the French sculptor
Ferdinand Faivre, in the front of the Museum. Photo by V. Giuntini,
Cairo, Egypt.
Building by G. Garozzo and Sons Contracting Co.
Interior
scene of The Regina Elena Italian School in Cairo. Architectural work
by G. Garozzo & Sons Contracting Co., Cairo, Egypt 1933. Photo
credit: Mamy Cifariello.
Restaurant at Heliopolis.
Villa Hug, Gezireh.
A
long list might be made of all the buildings which G. Garozzo &
Sons, either alone or in partnership with other firms, had erected in
Cairo and further afield since 1874. It would include the Khedivial
Palaces at Abdin and Gizeh; residences for various members of the
Khedivial family and leading people among the Egyptian nobility; many of
the principal hotels— the Savoy, Shepheard's, the Grand Continental, in
Cairo, the Winter Palace at Luxor, and the Grand at Helouan; the Museum
for Egyptian Antiquities at Cairo; the San Stefano Casino at Ramleh;
the Italian College; Abbas School, Tewfikieh School, the Arabic Hospital
at Alexandria; Tantah Hospital; the Cairo Fire Brigade Station;
barrages at Kochecha, Pont de Tewfikieh, Pont de Mazura, and
elsewhere—the first named being 600 metres in length; numerous
regulators and other irrigation works, etc.
The
founder of this business, which was certainly one of the largest of its
kind in the country, was the late Mr. Giuseppe Garozzo, a native of
Catania, Sicily. Born in 1847, he was early in life apprenticed to a
mason, and at the age of fifteen he came to Alexandria in the employment
of a company known as the Operaia Italiano, contractors. His skill
quickly won him promotion, and he was appointed foreman of their works,
which included a palace for Khedive Ismael Pasha at Sidi Gaber, near
Alexandria. He was with the Company for twelve years, and then, in 1874,
he began business on his own account. One of his first contracts was
for the erection of a palace at Gizeh for Khedive Ismael Pasha, and from
that time onwards his success was assured. From 1884 to 1890 he was in
partnership with Mr. Nicola Marciano, and during that time established a
record by building Shepheard's Hotel in the short space of four and a
half months. He then worked for a time in conjunction with Messrs. Zuro
& E. Patonna, and in 1896 he joined Mr. Francesco Zaffrani. It was
during this latter partnership that the Egyptian Museum contract was
undertaken. The work presented peculiar difficulties and took over three
years to complete. It is interesting to note that when the Italian
Hospital Umberto Primo was undertaken at Abbassieh in 1901, Mr. Garozzo
generously gave a donation of Frs. 12,000 to supply a deficiency in the
funds. He died in 1903, and of his twelve surviving children—eight sons
and four daughters—the two eldest, Fillippo and Francesco Garozzo, who
entered into the partnership in 1901, held the firm's power of attorney.
Both were born at Alexandria, and were educated at Naples with a view
to joining their father. Two other sons, Umberto and Victorio, had also
been admitted to the partnership.
Enrico Nistri
Professor
Enrico Nistri, contractor, painter, and decorator, had found ample
scope for his talents in Egypt. Among his principal works had been the
decoration of the Credit Foncier Egyptien, the Palace Suares, the Villa
Beyerly, the Scuola Duretto, and the Government Polytechnical School;
while he was still engaged on extensive schemes of decorative work for
the Heliopolis Oasis Company, and for the Egyptian Government. He was
born at Pisa in 1871, and, having received a general education, he
entered upon a three years' course of study at the Accademia di Belle
Arti in Florence. He spent two years at Lucca, and a further year at
Florence, and in 1890 he gained a diploma for designs and painting. He
taught drawing at the Reale Scuola Tecnica and became a professor in the
Government Schools at Spezia, where he remained for ten years, during
which time he qualified as a professor of calligraphy. In 1891 he came
to Cairo to join one of the leading local photographers as artist and
colorist. Six months later he acquired an interest in a firm of painting
and decorating contractors, but in 1906 he decided to start business on
his own account.
For more about the business, please see Enrico Nistri.
Commercial Loans Bank and Warehouses (Egypt), Ltd.
J.
Gallet was chiefly responsible for the establishment of the Commercial
Loans Bank and Warehouses (Egypt), Ltd., and was the largest shareholder
as well as being the managing director of that institution. He had had
the advantage of a legal and business experience. Born in Poitiers,
France, in 1870, he studied law in the Faculté de Droit à Paris, and
afterwards at l'Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales de Paris. He took
over the management of the Magasins Généraux Français Agrées par l'Etat.
In 1907 he came to Cairo, and laid before a number of capitalists the
idea of establishing the business of which he later became manager. Mr.
Gallet, who was a son of the late Mr. Charles Gallet. was married to
Louise, daughter of the late Mr. Rajaud. Mr. Joseph Segré, sub-manager
of the Commercial Loans Bank and Warehouses (Egypt), Ltd., was intended
for the police service, and had attained the rank of Sous- Commandant of
the Alexandria Quay Police, when he was compelled by ill-health to
resign, much to the regret of his men. Entering upon a civil career, he
was for three years manager of Caffari's Forwarding Branch in Cairo, and
in that capacity received testimonials from Baron Nathaniel de
Rothschild and the Crown Prince of Germany. When the Nile Transport
Company, Ltd., had been started, Mr. Segré was given the position of
general manager, and during the three years that he remained with the
company his services gave such satisfaction that H.E. Shakour Pasha, the
chairman, presented him with testimonials expressing the thanks of the
directorate. Mr. Segré is a son of the late Mr. Moise Segré, a cotton
merchant, of Tantah. He was born at Tantah, in 1877, and received his
education at the Lycée Tewfikieh, Shoubra, Cairo, where he obtained his
primary certificate. In 1903 he married Rebecca, a daughter of the late
Mr. Joseph Rousso, and by her had a son and a daughter.
Max Steinauer & Co.
Showrooms.
Although
established only since the commencement of 1903, Max Steinauer &
Co. had attracted the attention of the public by their enterprise and
energy, and had achieved in a short time a remarkable reputation in
sanitary engineering. They had had the honour of being appointed
sanitary engineers to His Highness the Khedive, and in addition they had
been entrusted with numerous Government contracts. Mr. Max E.
Steinauer, the head of the firm, had produced and patented a septic
tank, which obviates the periodical emptying of cesspools. The success
of this system had exceeded all expectations, and it was employed in
most of the principal buildings in Cairo. In 1909 there were in
existence over two hundred of these installations in the capital and
provinces. The showroom of the firm was remarkable as much for the taste
shown in the display of the goods as for the variety of the articles
exhibited, with all the latest improvements in sanitary engineering.
Moreover, the workshops of Steinauer & Co. at Boulac (Sahel Sanitary
Works, Regd.) were furnished with the fullest equipment for turning out
any appliance or fitting likely to be required. Amongst the numerous
contracts for the installation of sanitary appliances carried out by the
firm might be mentioned those for the following :—Khedivial Palace,
Abdin; Government and military schools, hospitals, prisons, and
barracks; the principal banks, both in the capital and in the provinces;
drainage works at Port Tewfik; works at Gebel el-Tor Quarantine
Station; the drainage of the quarantine parks at Mex, Alexandria, and at
Port Said; Palace Hotel at Heliopolis, near Cairo (upwards of four
hundred rooms); and His Highness the Khedive's Summer Palace at
Tchiboukli, on the Bosphorus.
Leon Luyckx
Established
in Cairo as a consulting engineer since 1904, prior to that date Mr.
Leon Luyckx had spent eight years in Egypt. He came out, in the first
instance, as consulting engineer to the Grand Hotel Company, now the
Egyptian Hotels Company, Ltd., and installed the necessary plant for
water filtration, steam heating, sewage transport, etc. He was then
concerned in the extension of the business of the Wagon-Lits Company to
Egypt, and, finally, before opening an office on his own account, he was
for two years engaged on railway construction and other engineering
work under the Public Works Department. In 1907 he was appointed an
expert adviser to the Mixed Tribunals in Cairo. Born in Brussels in
1866, Mr. Luyckx was educated at the Louvain University, where he
obtained his professional diploma in 1892. Subsequently he was admitted a
member of the Louvain Society of Engineers. Other works engineered by
him include the construction of the Canal du Centre, in Belgium, and of
the Port of Burgas on the Black Sea; and the opening of a stone quarry,
equipped with diamond saws, in Belgium. Mr. Luyckx was on the
provisional committee for the formation of the Cairo Society of
Engineers and Architects.
Victor M. Mosseri
A
son of the late Moses Mosseri, a former well-known landed proprietor,
Victor M. Mosseri was an authority on local agricultural questions. Born
in Cairo in 1873, he was educated in Egypt and in France. He studied
agriculture and science in Montpellier and Paris. On his return to Egypt
in 1893, he assisted in the management of his father's estates for a
time, and then undertook the technical direction of a sugar manufactory
in Upper Egypt for three years. From 1897 onwards he had devoted himself
to the cultivation of his own estates and those of his partners. These
properties embraced altogether an area of some 6,000 acres. He had
carried out extensive schemes of reclamation and devoted much time to
laboratory and field experiments. In recognition of the value of his
researches he had been decorated with the "Palmes Académiques" He was a
member of the "Institut Egyptien," the Chemist's Association of Paris,
and the Royal Agricultural Society of England. Mr. Mosseri was also an
expert adviser to the Mixed Tribunal, Cairo.
Garo Balian
Garo
Balian, son of a former well-known architect in Turkey, came to Egypt
in 1903, and joined the late Fabricius Pasha, architect of the Khedivial
Palace. Since the latter's death in 1907, he had been in business on
his own account, and had been responsible for the design of several
large buildings in Cairo, including those of the Société Belge -
Egyptienne de l'Ezbekieh; the handsome blocks occupied by Chemla Frères;
Messrs. les Fils de M. Cicurel et Cie; and E. J. Fleurent et Cie; and
the Université Egyptienne. He also carried out the alterations in the
old Palais de Mounirah, which became the Institut Français du Caire. Of
Armenian origin, he was born in Constantinople in 1878, and studied
architecture and sculpture at l'Ecole des Beaux Arts in that city. In
1896 he established himself in Bulgaria, where he designed several
buildings, notably the Military Club at Sophia.
L. Fourneron Bey
L.
Fourneron Bey can be remembered for his drawing of the plaster models
as a plan of Egypt exhibited by Daïra Sanieh at the St. Louis exhibition
in 1904, and won the grand prize. Mr. Fourneron received the title of
Bey in 1902. His first stay in Egypt was in 1890, he was head of the
technical office in state domains, and eight years later he was
transferred to Daïra Sanieh as head of the Technical Office and later as
chief engineer. In 1905 he began business on his own as a public works
contractor; he had a marked share in the Water Installations in Damietta
and Zagazig. He was appointed in 1906 by the Mixed Court of Cairo as
Technical Expert in the collapse of the Egyptian Sugar and Refineries
Company. Born in Saint Vallier, Drôme, France, in 1863, Mr. Fourneron
studied at the School of Arts and Crafts in Aix from 1870 to 1882; after
he had received his diploma he entered the steel works in St. Diamond
as a draftsman. In 1885 he was elevated to the position of head of the
Office of Studies in Montluçon for the Cie de Châtillon Courmentry, and
from 1887 to 1889 he served as attorney for the Société "l a Biesme".
Cavalier Uff. Francesco Zaffrani
Cavalier
Uff. Francesco Zaffrani came to Egypt in December, 1869, and since then
had constructed numerous canals, barrages, and other irrigation works,
as well as many of the largest buildings in Cairo. He had done much work
for the Egyptian Government, who had given the name "Zaffrani" to a
canal constructed by him. While the building of the Assouan Dam was in
progress, the Director of Public Works commissioned him to engage
sculptors in Italy for the granite works at the barrage. Mr. Zaffrani
was a son of the late Cristofero Zaffrani, and was born in 1847 at
Casalzuigno, in the Province of Como, Italy.
Leon Steinon
Nabil Camel-Toueg.
A. H. Boulad.
Cadros Mansions, built by Boulad, Camel-Toueg & Co.
One
of the leading architects in Egypt, Mr. L. Stienon, since 1899, had
been responsible for many important buildings in various parts of the
country. Among the more prominent of these mention may be made of the
new Museum at Alexandria, the Kaiser William Heim (for which he was
decorated with the Order of the Crown of Prussia), the Winter Palace
Hotel at Luxor, the San Stefano Hotel at Ramleh, a palace and several
villas for Luzzetta Pasha, a technical school at Damanhour, the Port
Said branch of the Bank of Egypt, cigarette factories for Maspero Frères
and Leopold Engelhardt, besides numerous villas and private residences
for Prince Ismail Pasha Yeghen, Maitre Palagi, H. H. Omar Toussoun
Pasha, Mr. Salvago, Dr. R. Ruffer, Emile, wrought iron work, both simple
and artistic, such as staircase balusters, bow windows, winter gardens,
and verandahs, and of metal frameworks such as gangway's and small
bridges. The workshops at Boulac were equipped with the latest and most
powerful machinery. The offices of the Company were situated at No. II,
Rue Deir-el-Banat, near the National Hotel. The managing partners were
Mr. Albert H. Boulad, proprietor, and Mr. M. Nabil Camel-Toueg. Ingr.
Civil (E.P.C.). Mr. Boulad, son of Mr. Habid D. Boulad, a well-known
landed proprietor, was born in Alexandria in 1884. After a long training
in various local banks and commercial houses he was appointed manager
of a large cotton-ginning factory belonging to his father at Mehalla
el-Kebira, and he subsequently became one of the principal partners of
the above-mentioned concern. Mr. Camel-Toueg was born at Alexandria in
1874. and on completing his secondary studies he entered l'Ecole
Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées de Paris, where he qualified as a civil
engineer. He was for some years connected with several leading railways
in Europe, such as the P.L.M. and Northern Railways in France, and the
Great Western Railway in England. Eventually he obtained employment in
the technical service of the Egyptian State Railways, but he resigned in
1905 in order to begin business on his own account.
R. Kuster & Co.
R. Kuster & Co's premises.
For
some thirty years a large share of the local trade in iron and hardware
and building materials had accrued to the firm later known as R. Küster
& Co., who had their chief depot in the Rue Boulac, Cairo, and a
branch in the Rue Abu Dardar, Alexandria. Mr. Knoepfel, a partner in the
original firm of Kuster & Knoepfel, died in 1878, and Mr. R.
Kuster, sen., carried on the business by himself until 1893, when he
died, leaving it to his son. Mr. R. Kuster, jun., took W. Ablitt and L.
Wohlwend into partnership in 1902, but died in the following year, while
in February, 1906, Mr. Ablitt bought Mr. Wohlwend's interest in the
business and thus became sole proprietor. In June. 1906, he sold the
concern to the Commercial, Industrial, and Land Company of Egypt, Ltd.,
taking half the shares and being appointed manager, but at the annual
general meeting held in January, 1908, the shareholders refused to pass
the accounts on the ground that so much money had been expended in
buying up or floating the Company. At an extraordinary meeting
subsequently held it was decided to wind up the Company voluntarily. Mr.
VV. Ablitt was given charge of the affairs of the Company in Cairo, and
his brother, Mr. H. Ablitt, was appointed manager in Alexandria. In the
meantime, business was carried on by R. Küster & Co. under the
original title. The business later had reverted to its former status,
after Messrs. Walter & Harry Ablitt had repurchased the concern from
the Commercial, Industrial, and Land Company of Egypt. They continued
the business under the old title of R. Küster & Co. Mr. W. Ablitt
was born in Cairo in 1868 and was educated at the local German school.
He first joined Küster & Co. in 1883, but after three years with
them he entered the service of the Crédit Foncier Egyptien in order to
gain banking experience. He rejoined his former employers in 1890, and
in 1902 he was admitted into the partnership. He was married in 1898 to
Lillie, daughter of the late Mr. R. Kuster, sen., and he had two
daughters. He was on the board of directors of the Nile Transport
Company, Ltd.
Michel Mirshak
In
business as a contractor as well as being a partner with his brothers
in the firm of K. and I. Mirshak, general bankers and discounters,
Michel Mirshak was born in Damascus in 1880, and came to Cairo at the
age of twenty to join the staff of the Delta Light Railways. Since 1904,
when he began business on his own account, he had carried out several
important basin conversion works, including the conversion of the estate
known as Sakkara Hod from a flood irrigation area to a sefi, or summer
irrigation area. In his leisure moments he devoted himself to writing
plays, two of which had been produced at the Arabic Theatre.
Compagnie Égyptienne Thomson-Houston
Compagnie
Égyptienne Thomson-Houston, with capital of Frs. 5,000,000, was founded
by the Thomson-Houston Company of the Mediterranean and was linked with
the various Thomson-Houston Companies in other parts of the world.
Formerly orders from Egypt were carried out by the Mediterranean
Company; but the latter, in view of the rapid development of the
country, resolved to create a new Company having its field of operations
only in Egypt. To this end it secured the assistance of important
French and Egyptian financial groups, but at the same time retained a
preponderant influence in the new Company. The Egyptian Thomson-Houston
Company represented in Egypt the various interests of the various
Thomson-Houston Companies from other parts of the globe, namely the
Thomson-Houston Company of the Mediterranean with capital of frs.
20,000,000; the General Electric Company of New York, with capital of
$50,000,000; the French Company Thomson-Houston, with capital of Frs.
40,000,000; the Thomson-Houston workshops, with capital of
Frs.7,000,000, and the British Thomson-Houston Company, with capital of
£800,000. The Egyptian Company was also in constant contact with other
Thomson-Houston Companies established in other parts of the world.
Although it was only founded in May 1907 it had already carried out a
large number of works, such as the installation of electric lighting for
part of the Egyptian Museum; that of the French Institute of
Archeology; from the School of Law; from the Abbassieh Police School;
from the Beyerlé Palace; Tantah Posts; various buildings of the Société
d’Oasis Héliopolis; the Winter Palace Hotel, Luxor; of the Victoria
College of Alexandria and numerous installations of pumps and electrical
appliances, both in Cairo and Alexandria and in the villages of Upper
Egypt. The Company also supplied part of the equipment necessary for the
Alexandria Tramway Company and was largely interested in this
enterprise. Many cars belonging to Cairo Tramways were also equipped
with Thomson-Houston engines and equipment.
F. Ratcliffe
Showroom.
F. Ratcliffe's chief agency.
Situated
in the Sharia Saptia, which run directly opposite to the Central
Railway Station at Cairo, and had become one of the busiest
thoroughfares for engineers' stores, were the offices, stores, and
showrooms of F. Ratcliffe, one of the oldest established local English
firms dealing in ironmongery and hardware, general merchandise, and
engineering requisites. Representing such well-known firms as B. K.
Morton & Co., of Sheffield, manufacturers of files, tool-steel,
drills, lathe tools, etc.; Hamilton & Co., Ltd., of London, makers
of brushes, painters' tools, etc.; George Howson & Sons, Ltd., of
Hanley, who supplied all kinds of sanitary fittings; and Sissons, Bros.,
& Co., Ltd., wholesale oil and color merchants, of Hull, Mr.
Ratcliffe was able to guarantee everything supplied by him as being of
the best quality. He was sole agent for Hall's sanitary washable
distemper, manufactured by Sissons, Bros., & Co., Ltd., which had
been so largely used in the principal Government Administration Offices
in Cairo and the Soudan for years. This was an excellent wall-covering
for a country with a climate such as Egypt possessed, because it
withstood atmospheric influences much better than wall-paper or ordinary
paints. It was unaffected by light, heat, or damp, while the percentage
of cresylic acid in its composition made it an efficacious germicide.
These advantages were rapidly becoming recognized, and tons of the
distemper were imported into the country every month. The business was
conducted by Mr. F. Ratcliffe, who in no small degree attributed the
large and increasing connection which he had secured all over Egypt to
the fact that he gave every order and inquiry his personal attention.
Alex. Young
Alexander Young's Pumping Station at Keneh, Upper Egypt.
A
boring contract was carried out locally at Asserat circa 1909, in the
district of Luxor, by the firm of Alexander Young (late Thomas Henry
Hornstein & Co.), in conjunction with Mr. Hagop Agopian, who sank
eight wells—two of them 12 inches in diameter and the remainder 16
inches in diameter—on the estate of Ismail Bey Fouad Abou Rehab. This
firm, who had been established for since circa 1906 in Cairo, with a
branch at Alexandria, made a speciality of well-boring, which they
carried out in conjunction with Mr. Hagop Agopian, one of the leading
members of his profession in Egypt. They had two artesian bores at the
Cairo Agricultural Exhibition in 1909, and had several important
contracts in hand. They supplied pumps and agricultural machinery of all
kinds, representing such well-known firms as Robey & Co., Ltd.,
Richard Hornsby & Sons, Ltd., and Brown & May, Ltd., and had
executed orders for H.E. Ali Bey Ramsey, H.H. Princess Fatma Hanem, H.E.
Boghos Pasha Nubar, and H.E. Bughra Bey Hanna. Mr. Alexander Young, the
proprietor, was connected with the old-established firm of Alex. Young,
Ltd. The Cairo offices were in the Sharia Saptieh and the local
managers were Messrs. W. Bradley and C. W. Wilkinson.
Daydé & Pillé
Interior of the Bab el-Hadid Station, built by Messrs. Daydé & Pillé.
It
was generally acknowledged by engineers that the leading
characteristics of the firm of Daydé & Pillé were the boldness of
their innovation, and the masterly manner in which they had always
solved difficult problems. These characteristics had been strikingly
illustrated by their success in building the Gabbary Bridge at
Alexandria, to carry the road over the Egyptian State Railway. It was
necessary to construct the span without interrupting the train service
below, and at the same time to avoid too steep an incline on the
approach from the Mex side of the line. The principal constructional
workshops in Europe were invited to compete, and the scheme of Messrs.
Daydé & Pillé was adjudged the best. The cantilever truss was
constructed on an inclined scaffolding, and rested on its final supports
on the Alexandria side only. When the truss was completely riveted, the
scaffolding was removed, and the whole structure was lowered to the
horizontal by means of powerful hydraulic machinery. Among other works
completed by this firm in Egypt for the State Railways may be mentioned
two big bridges over the Nile at Zifteh and the Barrage. Earlier in
their connection with the country Messrs. Daydé & Pillé installed
the pumping machinery for the Waterworks at Cairo and Alexandria, and
built the bridges at Embabeh and Mansourah. They also proposed the
scheme for the metallic hall of the Central Railway Station at Bab
el-Hadid, Cairo, and carried out the first part of it. The firm was
founded in 1858 by Messrs. Lebrun and Lévéque. The latter died in 1875,
and Mr. Lebrun carried on the business alone until 1886, when he
admitted Messrs. H. Daydé and A. Pillé to partnership. At the beginning
of 1887 the partners assumed the control of the business, and by skilful
management they had so developed it that their workshops at Creil
(Oise) ranked among the leading establishments of their kind in France.
They undertook mechanical and metallic constructions, such as engines
and boilers, cranes, steam and electric excavators, road, canal and
railway bridges, piers and jetties, lock-gates, weirs, gasometers, etc.,
besides general work in the nature of foundations by compressed air,
submarine dredging and scouring, the construction of floating and
graving docks, and the boring of tunnels with the compressed-air shield.
They had built over four hundred bridges in China and Indo-China, among
them the great bridge over the Red River at Hanoi. The chief offices of
the firm were at 6 bis rue Auber, Paris, and were under the management
of Messrs. L. Cazeau, C.E., and J. Collin, C.E., both Knights of the
Legion of Honor. Those of the Egyptian agency were situated in the Rue
el-Cherifein, Cairo, the local manager was Mr. S. F. Mortier, C.E., also
a Knight of the Legion of Honor.
A. Tissier
Mr.
André Tissier, a member of the Société des Ingenieurs Civils de France,
came to Egypt in 1895 as engineer in charge of the technical service
for the planning and construction of the railway from Keneh to Assouan,
and was then employed in a similar capacity under the Cie des Chemins de
Fer Economiques de l'Est Egyptien. Since the completion of that line in
1901 he had been in business on his own account as an ergineer and
contractor, and besides carrying out numerous public works he had done
much to further the general application in Egypt, and particularly in
Cairo, of the biological treatment of sullage water and sewage matter. A
son of the late James Tissier, a gentleman of independent means, he was
born at Cote d'Or, France, in 1870, and after a course at the Bureau
Central des Etudes at Paris he entered the service of the Cie des
Chemins de Fer de Paris-Orléans, and received a thorough practical
training in their central workshops at Paris. He next joined the
permanent way and construction department of the State Railways of
France; and, finally, before coming abroad, he was attached to the
Bureau des Etudes des Ateliers et Chantiers de la Loire. Mr. Tissier was
a Member of the International Chamber of Commerce at Cairo.
Abel & Schellenberg
Confining
their attention to imports only, Abel & Schellenberg, general
merchants and commission agents, had developed a large business in
hardware, jewellery, silverware, toys, beads, fancy goods, wines,
spirits, liqueurs, etc. They represented Carl Breiding & Sohn,
Soltau, Hanover; the Creditorenverein Fuer die Gold, Silberwaren, und
Uhren-Industrie, Pforzheim, Baden; A. C. Meukow et Cie, France; and many
other leading firms in Europe and America. Mr. Willy Abel, the senior
partner, was born in Berlin in 1880, and was educated at the Commercial
School at Neuchatel, Switzerland. Mr. Jacob Schellenberg, two years his
junior, was a native of Russikon, Zurich, and was educated at the same
school. Before coming to Egypt in 1901, both partners were for a time
engaged in business in Europe.
Ernest Jaspar
E. Jaspar.
Gezireh Apartments, built by Ernest Jaspar.
Educated
at the Brussels Academy of Fine Arts, Mr. Ernest Jaspar at one of the
triennial competitions for students who had gained honors was awarded
first place and a prize of 1,000 francs. For six years he practised as
an architect in Brussels, and afterwards, whilst on a tour in Egypt, he
met Baron Empain, who asked him to prepare plans for the New Palace
Hotel at Heliopolis. It was from these designs that the hotel was
completed. He decided to settle in Cairo. His plans for the new Cairo
Stock Exchange, also, were approved in the first instance, but owing to
the financial crisis they had to be abandoned afterwards in favor of a
less ambitious scheme, prepared by him in conjunction with Messrs.
Cattaui & Matasek. The Anglo-Belgian flats at Gezireh, the Mattosian
tobacco factory at Gizeh, the offices of the Heliopolis Company, the
private railway station for the Khedive at Wardian, a number of villas
for the Koubbeh Gardens Company, and a building with a ground area of
2,000 square metres at Kasr el-Doubarah, for Green Brothers, were also
built from his designs. Mr. Jaspar, who was a son of the late Pierre
Jaspar, of Brussels, was on the committee of the Belgian Chamber of
Commerce.
Leon Rolin & Co.
Helopolis Palace Hotel, built by Messrs. Padova, Rolin & Co.
The
construction of firm foundations demanded the greatest possible
attention in the Nile Valley, for the whole country is alluvial in
formation and in many instances land had been won by filling in swamps
and pools. Among the most successful solutions of the difficulty thus
presented to the builder was the "Compressol" system of foundations,
which had been so extensively employed on the Continent and elsewhere.
By means of heavy steel cones, which descend with great force from a
height of some 30 feet, pits were created in the soil, and into these an
admixture of stone, rubble, and cement was subsequently driven. In this
way solid pillars were formed extending from the surface down to bed
rock or other stable stratum, while of course the intervening ground was
compressed by the lateral thrust of the cones. These pillars were
connected at the top by armored concrete girders, the whole giving a
safe foundation for even the heaviest of superstructures. The sole
agents in Egypt for this system and for the "béton armé," or armored
concrete, used in connection with it, were F . Padova, Leon Rolin &
Co., contractors, engineers, and importers of ironwork, who had been
established in Cairo since 1899. The founders of the Company were Mr. M.
Padova. an Italian merchant, and Mr. Leon Rolin, a Belgian engineer,
whose father, Mr. Ernest Rolin, was consulting engineer to the Company.
Most of the shareholders were Belgians of high standing. The ten years
for which the Company was originally formed had expired on January 1,
1908, and the concern had been reconstructed, with the same
shareholders, by Mr. Leon Rolin, under the style of Leon Rolin & Co.
Among the more important works carried out by the Company may be
mentioned the premises of the Credit Fonder Egyptien, various Khedivial
and Ministerial buildings, constructional works for the Cairo Electric
Railways Company and the Heliopolis Oases Company, and "Compressol"
foundations for many of the principal buildings in Cairo and Alexandria.
The firm represented numerous Belgian engineering firms, and import
waggons, ironwork, and all the machinery necessary in building
construction. The engineer-in-chief was Mr. E. Cambrelin; the chief
accountant, Mr. E. Schodduyn, and the secretary, Mr. C. Moreau, all of
whom were specially engaged in Europe. Altogether some twenty men were
employed in the office, while some forty engineers, surveyors, and
foremen were engaged in carrying out and supervising the Company's
numerous contracts. The offices were at No. 10, Rue du Musée Egyptien.
Cairo, and Boulevard de Ramleh, Alexandria.
Palacci, Fils, Haim & Co.
With
an annual turnover from more than EGP 150.000 to EGP 180.000, Palacci,
Fils, Haim & Co. claimed a large share of the wholesale and retail
trade in Egypt and the Soudan. The premises, covering an area of 1,200
square meters, and rising to a height of three stories, stood on the
site of the original shop that was opened in the Sharia Ben el-Neihden,
Mousky, in 1897, and were tangible evidence of the success which had
attended the business. Twenty office assistants and 120 salespeople were
employed in the various departments for tapestry and furniture,
carpets, silks, Manchester goods, woollen materials, drapery, ladies'
and gentlemen's outfitting, hosiery, and haberdashery, traveling
requisites, hardware, and fancy goods. The founders of the firm were V.
Palacci and his sons and Mr. A. Haim.
Ralph S. Green
Son
of Mr. S. I. Green, a well-known banker and landowner, Mr. Ralph S.
Green had developed a considerable business on his own account since
1905. He held contracts for the supply of forage and native and Cyprus
cattle for the Serum Institute, the Department of Public Health, and the
Service de Tanzim et Voiries. Mr. Green had been appointed the agent
travel for the Prima Sociéta Ungarese, and the Prima Sociéta Austriaca,
and represented Continental firms for the import and export of all kinds
of general goods. His head offices were in the Rue Kasr-el-Nil, Cairo,
and he had branches in the Rue Cherif Pasha, Alexandria, and at Nicosia,
Cyprus.
Setton, Friedmann & Co.
Since
1897 Setton, Friedmann & Co. had carried on business in Cairo and
Alexandria. They represented some sixty manufacturing houses of soft
goods, as well as a number of prominent Continental firms. They were
sole agents for T. F. Firth & Sons, Ltd., carpet, blanket, and rug
manufacturers, of Brighouse, Yorkshire; Barry, Ostlere & Shepherd,
Ltd., linoleum and floorcloth manufacturers, of Kirkcaldy, Scotland;
Law, Russell & Co., Ltd., one of the largest firms of dress goods
fabric manufacturers in Bradford; Crockell & Jones, the well-known
manufacturers of the "Health" and "Elite" boots and shoes in
Northampton; and Christy & Co., the world-famed hat manufacturers.
These were but a few of the houses represented by the firm. The partners
were Mr. M. Setton, who was in charge of the Cairo branch, and Mr. S.
Friedmann, who managed the house at Alexandria. Both partners had been
connected for many years with the commercial life of the country. Prior
to establishing himself in business on his own account, Mr. Setton
traveled for several of the important firms he represented, and the
experience which he gained in this capacity had enabled him so to
develop the Cairo branch of the business, that both the houses which he
represented and the firm of which he was the senior partner had every
reason for satisfaction. The Cairo business address of Messrs. Setton,
Friedmann & Co., was Hoche Issa, Mousky Street, or Box 84, while
that at Alexandria was Box 519.
G. Marcus & Co.
The
large importing, exporting, and general merchant's business carried on
by G. Marcus & Co., was established by Mr. G. Marcus, in conjunction
with a Manchester house, in 1860. The Manchester house, however, soon
withdrew, and Mr. Marcus continued alone until 1894, when he admitted
Messrs. Massiah, A. G. Pegna, and G. Padova into partnership. Mr.
Massiah retired on January 1, 1903. The firm imported large quantities
of candles, matches, starch, tin, and tea, and also did a considerable
commission business. They were sole agents in Egypt and the Soudan for
Milner's safes, and represented, among other well-known houses, the
Central Agency, Ltd.; Thomas Adams, Ltd., the Nottingham lace
manufacturers; Lister & Co., the Bradford silk weavers; and Joseph
Crossfield & Sons, the makers of Warrington soaps. The firm had two
branches—one at Hosh Issa, Cairo, where Mr. G. Padova was in charge, and
the other at Alexandria, which was entrusted to Mr. A. Guthieres Pegna.
They had agencies at Tantah, Mansourah, and Omdurman.
G. Siacci
A 'Beton Armè' Building erected by the Industrial Buildings Company, Ltd., under the 'Siacci System.'
G.
Siacci, an entrepreneurial engineer, came to Egypt in 1896 as an
engineer for the Egyptian Railways, a position he left in 1900 to enter
the service of MM. Padova, Rolin et Cie, entrepreneurs, as chief
engineer. In 1903 he began working for himself, and since 1907 he had
been director of the Industrial Building Company of Egypt, Ltd. He was
the inventor of the reinforced concrete system that bore his name, and
among the companies in which this system was used included the
construction of the Khedivial Buildings in Cairo, on behalf of the
Société Belge-Egyptienne de l'Esbékieh; the foundations of the Winter
Palace Hotel in Luxor; the foundations and ceilings of the Maspéro
Frères cigarette factory in Cairo; the columns, arcades, ceilings of the
grill room and the new dining room of the Shepheard Hotel, and the
drainage system of the Heliopolis Oasis. Mr. Siacci was also responsible
for the foundation business using the method of mechanical compression
of the soil, using special machines supplied by the Menck and Hambrock
company, in Altone. He was the Consulting Engineer for the Italian
Consulate in Cairo, and in 1901 he was created Knight of the Order of
the Crown of Italy. A graduate of the University of Rome in physics and
mathematics, he obtained his diploma at the Engineering School of
Bologna. Before his arrival in Egypt he was for three years, as an
engineer, attached to the Ministry of Finance of Italy.
F. Diemer
The Premises of F. Diemer .
Mr. H. Finck, Senior Partner.
Few
establishments in Cairo were better known than that of F. Diemer,
bookseller, situated in the Shepheard's Hotel Buildings in the Chareh
Kamel. They stocked books of all kinds in some twelve different
languages, and made a special feature of those dealing with Eastern
countries. The firm were agents for the Survey Department of the
Egyptian Government for the printing and sale of maps, plans, and
similar publications, and they had been appointed booksellers to H.H.
the Khedive. The business was founded by Mr. F. Diemer in 1892; it then
passed to Mr. F. Marschner, and finally to Mr. Henry Finck, who
purchased the goodwill in 1905 after having managed the business for
four years. Mr. Finck was a native of Thuringen, Prussia, and was
educated at Hildburghausen. He was engaged for seventeen years in the
book trade, working for big firms in Leipzig, Dresden, and other large
centers.
H. Raff
Hersch Raff fashion store in Attaba, Cairo, Egypt in 1909.
H. Raff, Proprietor.
Joseph Raff
Although
the business carried on by Mr. H. Raff was established since 1905, it
had become very popular with the residents of Cairo. The firm's premises
in Place Ataba el-Khadra were commodious and elegant, and the thousand
and one miscellaneous articles of hosiery, millinery, and outfitting
were arranged with taste and judgment throughout a series of
well-appointed and conveniently arranged showrooms. A traveler might
purchase there any requisite for his journeyings, and in the various
departments every article could be found which imagination conceives to
be necessary for the provision of a complete outfit for either sex. Of
the ever-changing European fashions Mr. Raff, who had been in the trade
all his life, took careful note, so that his stock, which at a low
estimate was worth between nearly EGP 50,000 and EGP 60,000, was never
allowed to become antiquated or out-of-date. Mr. Raff was the sole
proprietor. He was born at Yassi, Roumania, in 1852, and came to Cairo
with his parents when quite a child. In his early years he met with
several grievous misfortunes. He lost his father a year after his
arrival in Egypt, and at the age of fourteen he was left to struggle as
best he might for a livelihood owing to the death of his brother-in-law,
who up till then had provided for his education. It had previously been
suggested that he should be apprenticed to a watchmaker, but, having no
taste for such an occupation, he joined Mr. S. Stein when that
gentleman started in business as a ready-made clothier in Cairo in 1865.
Trade was brisk; branches were quickly opened in Constantinople,
Alexandria, and Vienna; and with this development in the business Mr.
Raff's position grew in importance until in 1873 he was appointed
manager of the whole undertaking. In 1897 Mr. Stein conceived the idea
of creating a small private company by handing over the business for a
period of five years to his various managers. The branch in Cairo was
entrusted to Mr. I. Blumberg; in Alexandria to Mr. Marcus Stein, Mr. S.
Stein's younger brother; in Constantinople to Mr. H. Blumberg and Mr. H.
Raff; and in Vienna to Mr. Doro Stein, Mr. S. Stein's eldest son.
Between the years 1898-99 Mr. S. Stein and Mr. I. Blumberg both died,
and Mr. H. Blumberg retired from the Company, but the three remaining
partners continued the business until the expiration of the contract in
1902, when, according to the original arrangement, Mr. Doro Stein
assumed the control of the whole enterprise. Mr. Raff was appointed
manager of the Cairo branch, a position which he resigned at the end of a
year in order to start business on his own account. After waiting
eighteen months for a favorable opportunity he opened his premises in
1905. His manager, Mr. Constants Moscopoulos, had been associated with
him in business for something like fourteen years. The staff included
some thirty-five hands. In 1875 Mr. Raff married the sister of his late
employer, Mr. S. Stein. His two sons, Joseph and Max, both assisted him
in the business.
F. Phillips & Co.
For
upwards of twelve years F . Phillips & Co., of the Chareh
Kasr-el-Nil, had been established in Cairo as high-class tailors,
breeches makers, military outfitters, ladies' tailors, habit makers, and
general hosiers. They stocked cloths of the best manufacture and latest
design. The Company was under the direct personal supervision of the
proprietor, Mr. Fred Phillips. When the business was started in 1896 the
partners were Messrs. Lawson & Phillips, but, on the retirement of
Mr. Lawson, three years later, Mr. Phillips became the sole proprietor.
In 1901 he opened a branch at Alexandria, in the Rue Cherif Pasha. The
branch was managed by Mr. Geo. Lawrence, who had an interest in the
business. Mr. Phillips was familiar with Cairo long before 1896, for he
was with the firm of John Collacott, of Cairo. Mr. Phillips, who was
forty-one years of age, was married to Florence, daughter of Thomas
Miller, a retired banker of Sydney, N.S.W., and had one son and two
daughters.
John Collacott & Sons
Conspicuous
in the busy Chareh el Manakh is the establishment of John Collacott
& Son, civil and military tailors and breeches makers, hosiers, and
general outfitters. The business was founded in October, 1886, by Mr.
John Collacott, whose father, for forty years, had carried on a large
tailoring business in the city of London. For twenty-two years the firm
was known under the style of John Collacott, but 'John Collacott &
Sons' was adopted towards the close of 1908, when Mr. Collacott, who
sixteen years previously had been joined by his second son, Mr. Herbert
Edmund Collacott, retired from business. Collacott & Son undertook
every branch of gentlemen's outfitting, and carried a large stock of
smart goods. Some forty persons were employed, Mr. Herbert Collacott
himself having charge of the cutting department. Mr. Fred. Botham was
the assistant manager.
G. Parvis
In
spite of its somewhat hidden situation near the entrance to the Mousky,
the establishment of Mr. Giuseppe Parvis was well known to both
residents and visitors in Cairo, for it had an old-established and
widespread reputation for the supply of artistic Oriental furniture and
bronzes. The founder, a native of Pramont, a little village in Italy,
showed early in life a keen perception of the artistic, and, after he
had received his education at Turin and Paris, he devoted himself for
some eight years to the study of wood-carving, having for companion the
celebrated sculptor Guilio Monteverde. He came in 1859 to Cairo, where
his skill was soon recognized by the Khedive and the Egyptian nobility.
Ismael Pasha gave him several commissions, including one for a suite of
Oriental furniture to be shown at the Paris Exhibition of 1869. The
suite was greatly admired, and Mr. Parvis was awarded a gold medal. This
success was repeated at subsequent world exhibitions at Philadelphia,
Amsterdam, Antwerp, Vienna, Milan, Turin, and elsewhere, the exhibits of
Mr. Parvis never failing to attract unusual attention. Besides the
application of ancient Egyptian and Arabic designs to modern furniture,
of which he made a speciality, Mr. Parvis was able to reproduce with
wonderful fidelity the articles of personal adornment in use three or
four thousand years ago, the originals of which were to be seen in the
Cairo Museum. It was difficult to suggest more interesting souvenirs of a
visit to Egypt than these reminders of the dawn of civilization. Mr.
Parvis, who was in his seventy-seventh year, had five sons and four
daughters. His eldest son, Pompeo, had had charge of his business since
1887, while his second son, Taurino, was a well known baritone, and was
to sing at the Scala de Milano in 1909. In 1907 Mr. Parvis had the title
of Cavalliere of the Order of Lavaro conferred upon him by King Victor
Emmanuel—a signal honor, as it was one of the first three ever granted
outside the kingdom of Italy.
For more about the business, please see Giuseppe Parvis.
The Hygienic Dairy
Howie
& Co., proprietors of the Hygienic Dairy at Shoubra, had made
available a plentiful supply of pasteurized milk, cream, and butter. In
course of preparation by the Pasteur process, the milk was slowly heated
to 180° or 190° F., and was kept at that temperature for some twenty
minutes, and then run over a cooler, ready for distribution in
hermetically- sealed bottles. They supplied officers' messes, hotels,
and clubs, and number among their customers residents of all
nationalities. The dairy had been awarded twelve first prize medals for
butter and cheese at various shows held by the Khedivial Agricultural
Society. The head of the firm, Mr. Alexander I. Howie, was a native of
Edinburgh. He was for nearly eleven years engaged in the grain and
milling industry, and then, in 1892, came to Egypt to join J. E.
Mortimer & Co., general merchants. A year later he became manager,
and held that position until the business changed hands in 1898. His
desire for an outdoor life led him to establish the Hygienic Dairy. He
was a member of the Khedivial Agricultural Society, and he took a
prominent part in the affairs of St. Andrew's Church.
Moring & Co.
The
business of Moring & Co. had been extended and developed
considerably since its establishment. Mr. Alfred Moring, who was the son
of Mr. John Moring, a surgical instrument maker, and had been
associated with his father in business for a period of seven years, laid
the foundations of the Company in 1893. For the first twelve months or
so he devoted himself exclusively to those branches of trade in which
his previous training gave him an expert knowledge, but finding that the
financial results derived from the making of surgical instruments were
not entirely satisfactory, he widened the scope of his enterprise by
establishing, in conjunction with it, a large cycle depot. He maintained
his old connection as a surgical instrument maker, but the firm's cycle
trade had grown so rapidly that it might be regarded as the chief part
of their enterprise in 1909. They sold all the best pattern machines,
carried out repairs of all descriptions, and kept large stocks of
accessories for both cycles and motor cars. They were the sole agents in
Egypt and the Soudan for the "New Hudson,", "Singer," "Raleigh," and
"Norton" machines. Mr. A. Moring was assisted in the conduct of the
business by Mr. Frank Percy Hayes, whom he admitted into partnership in
1904. The staff of workmen employed by the firm numbers fifteen.
Stephenson & Co.
The
Stephenson & Co. pharmacy opened in Egypt in 1899 in the Opera
Square. Stephenson & Co. did a large dispensing business, and in the
season received commissions from many celebrities. They supplied drugs
and medicines to the Citadel Hospital. In summer the preparation of cold
drinks, made with fruit syrups and iced soda water, was one of their
chief specialities. The well-appointed pharmacy was fitted up by F. Sage
& Co. and Mr. G. H. Stephenson, M.P.S., the founder of the firm.
Zivy Fréres
One
of the oldest firms of high-class jewelers and watchmakers in Cairo and
Alexandria was that of Zivy Frères, which was established in 1863 by
Henry and Cesar Zivy, who had previously carried on business at
Chaux-de- Fond, the center of the watch-making industry in Switzerland.
After Mr. Henry Zivy's death in 1885, Mr. Cesar Zivy continued to trade
under his own name until 1902, when he also died, leaving the business
to his sons, Jules and Charles, who later became the proprietors. The
firm had depots and factories in Paris and in Chaux-de- Fond. The local
branches, situated in the Rue Kamel, Cairo, and in the Rue Cherif Pasha,
Alexandria, were managed respectively by Mr. C. Zelnick, who had been
with the firm for twenty years, and Mr. M. Braun, who had been with them
for upwards of forty years, but one or other of the proprietors came to
Egypt from Europe each season to equip the local business with the
latest novelties. A special feature was made of copies of antiquities,
for which there was a ready demand owing to the fidelity of the
workmanship. The firm stocked all kinds of jewelery and precious stones,
and had been purveyors to H.H. the Khedive since the time of Ismael
Pasha. Mr. Jules Zivy was a member of the committees of the French Club
and the Société de Bienfaisance Française. Both he and his brother were
natives of Chaux-de-Fond, and gained the greater part of their practical
knowledge of jewelery at their father's workshops there and in Paris.
Siufi Bros.
Coming
of an old family of merchants, H.E. Mohamed Ahmed Pasha Siufi founded
the firm known as Messrs. Siufi Bros., and succeeded in building up a
substantial piece-goods business. He imported Manchester cottons of all
kinds and brassware, and exported raw cotton, gum and Soudanese goods.
On his death in January, 1900, the business passed into the hands of his
sons, the senior partner was Abdul Hamid Bey Siufi. The Cairo
establishment, which was opened in 1860, was situated at Gouireh, in the
Mousky. The firm had a branch in Manchester, and numerous agencies all
over Egypt. In their own department they enjoyed practically a monopoly
of the Red Sea trade, and they also shipped large quantities of goods to
India. Abdul Hamid Bey Siufi was born in Cairo in 1880, and, after
receiving a commercial education, joined his father's firm at the age of
nineteen. He devoted much of his leisure to horticulture, and had made
several interesting experiments in the cultivation of orchids.
G. Lekegian & Co.
Egypt
was specially rich in views and pictorial effects, choice specimens of
which were daily created by the many artists catering for the public
demand. Among the many firms engaged in this work may be mentioned that
of G. Lekegian & Co., Cairo. Established in 1887, the excellence of
their work quickly secured for them the large patronage they had enjoyed
since then, and the business was carried on at two up-to-date
establishments. The chief studio was in Sharia Kamel, opposite the front
entrance of Shepheard's Hotel. There a large selection of enlargements
and views was displayed. A special feature was made of the "tourist
business," and a staff of competent workmen were always busily engaged
in printing and developing visitors' snapshots and films.
Hugo Hackh
It
was Mr. Hugo Hackh, founder of the firm, who engaged the Société
Chorale from Vienna, a chorus of two hundred voices, whose visit to
Cairo in 1905 was long remembered. The Quartetto Fitzner, the Quartetto
Helmsberger, and other well-known vocal parties, so popular at the big
hotels during the season, had also been brought out through his
instrumentality; while, as a member of the Cairo Musical Society, he had
taken his share in fostering local talent. All this, however, had been
but incidental to his business as an importer of musical instruments.
The firm had two establishments— one at Alexandria that had been in
existence since 1888, and occupied an advantageous site in the Rue
Cherif Pasha; the other at Cairo, that was opened in 1903, and was
situated in the Rond Point Suares. Mr. Hugo Hackh was the sole local
representative of many of the leading manufacturers, including C.
Bechstein, J. Bluthner, Steinway & Sons, V. Berdux, J. Brinsmead
& Sons, C. Ecke, J. Feurich, R. I bach Sohn, and the Aeolian
Company, Ltd. His firm was patronized by the Khedive and many of the
leading residents in Egypt and the Soudan. At his extensive workshops he
undertook repairs of all kinds. Mr. Hackh made a point of visiting the
chief musical centers in Europe every year in order to keep himself
thoroughly abreast of the times, and, in consequence, he had often been
the first to introduce novelties to Egypt. One of the importation circa
1908 was the Welte-Mignon piano-player, an ingenious electrically-driven
device by which the individual interpretation of the world's most
famous pianists might be reproduced. Mr. Hackh, who is a native of
Wurtemberg, joined his father on leaving the Stuttgart High Gymnasium,
and acquired a thorough knowledge of piano manufacturing. This knowledge
he subsequently extended in various first-class factories in Berlin,
such as those of C. Bechstein, Duysen, and Biese. He was then in Bohemia
for a year, and was on the point of taking over the management of a
large music warehouse there, when he decided to come to Egypt. He
arrived at Alexandria in 1887 as manager for the firm of Bodenstein
& Co., and in the following year started business on his own
account. Mr. Hackh was an enthusiastic sportsman, and was one of the
founders of the German Sporting Club in Alexandria. His chief delight,
however, was in vocal music, and for many years he had been a member of
the Société Chorale de Vienne.
Joseph Cohen
There
were several establishments in Cairo in which visitors to the bazaars
in an Eastern city might rely upon procuring the genuine article, and
Mr. Joseph Cohen was the proprietor of one of these. A native of Smyrna,
Mr. Cohen was in business in Syria for some years before he came to
Egypt in 1880, and opened a Turkish and Persian bazaar in Cairo. By
rigidly excluding anything in the shape of spurious imitations he
quickly established a reputation as a reliable dealer. Many
distinguished residents and visitors had written to him expressing
satisfaction with their purchases. Mr. Cohen's establishment was
situated in the Khan el-Khalili, near the entrance to the Shoe Bazaar.
Persian carpets and rugs, both silk and woollen, form the staple of the
stock, which contained also a varied assortment of silks, velvets,
embroideries, jewelery, earthenware, Oriental scents, antiquities, and
innumerable examples of cunning Oriental workmanship.
Boehme and Anderer
Boehme
and Anderer undertook all kinds of printing work, from plain jobbing to
the most artistic bookwork. At their offices, which were situated next
to the Turf Club in the Chareh el-Maghraby, they had a modern plant,
including printing presses and bookbinding machinery, and a large staff
of Europeans, besides a number of native assistants. In the shop were
departments for fancy goods, office requisites and furniture, and
leather goods; and few establishments in Egypt carried a more varied or
high class stock. The business was established in 1883 by F. E. Max
Boehme and Theodor Anderer, and the proprietors were Mr. Boehme's
children. Since Mr. Boehme's death in 1907 his brother-in-law, Mr. F.
Sarpe, had had the general control of the business.
F. Davidson & O. Regenstreif
The
firm of F. Davidson & Co., opticians, opened a branch of their
business in Cairo in 1903. They were able to undertake optical formulas
and soon established a reputation among local oculists, and in course of
time were appointed opticians to the Government Ophthalmic Hospitals.
They were patentees of the "Effdee" sun and sand glasses, specially
designed for the desert, and were the agents in Egypt and the Soudan for
the firms of Ross, Ltd., prism binocular makers, etc.; F. Barker &
Son, Ltd., makers of compasses, aneroid barometers, and scientific
instruments; and Hall Bros., makers of surveying instruments. The work
entrusted to the firm was carried on under the personal supervision of
two of the partners, Mr. Jacobs and Mr. Regenstreif, the former of whom
spent at least six months in Egypt every year, while the latter resided
in Cairo permanently. The firm occupied premises in the Continental
Hotel Buildings.
Kienzle & Simonds
Mr.
Kienzle established himself in business as a baker in 1860. He occupied
premises right in the heart of the old native quarters of the city, and
commenced trading in a very small way, but, by maintaining a good
standard of quality and exercising careful management, he succeeded
gradually in extending his business. In 1890 the headquarters were
removed to Tewfikieh, and eight years later the son of the founder and
Mr. H. E. Simonds entered into partnership. In 1904 Mr. Kienzle, jun.,
retired, leaving Mr. Simonds the sole proprietor. In order to cope with
the rapidly increasing trade of recent years, Mr. Simonds purchased
1,400 square metres of land for the purpose of erecting new bakehouses,
and shortly afterwards bought an additional 600 metres to provide room
for the improvements and extensions which were subsequently found
necessary. The buildings, constructed of stone and cement, were
practically fire-proof, while the ovens were of the very latest
continuous baking pattern and were externally heated, so that nothing
but bread ever enters the baking space. The firm had supplied five
generations of the Khedivial family, and were purveyors to the military
institutions, the leading hotels, and several of the principal schools.
They had branches in Sharia Maghraby, opposite the Turf Club, at
Abbassieh, and at Zeitoun, and employed no less than twelve delivery
vans daily. The firm made a speciality of Gluten bread for diabetes, and
were agents for Hovis bread, Turog bread, Horniman's tea, and John
Walker & Son's whisky.
F. Francés
The
Grands Magasins des Nouveautés, situated in the Rue el-Bawaki, Cairo,
was an old-established house dealing in furniture and household goods,
textile fabrics, carpets, oilcloths, silk piece goods, drapery,
haberdashery, hosiery, gloves, millinery, lingerie, and ladies' costumes
of all kinds. The founder, Mr. F. Francés, was for nine years in Paris
before coming to Cairo in 1873, and he made all his purchases through
his establishment in the Rue du Petit Hotels in that city. From 1873 to
1881 he was engaged by Paschal & Co., and then, being anxious to
turn his local knowledge to better account, he opened a small shop. He
moved to more commodious premises in 1883, and since that year the
prosperity of his undertaking had increased enormously. Since 1889 he
had held the appointment of purveyor to the Khedivial family and to the
Administration Publique, and his clientele included numbers of the
leading residents in Cairo. He employed forty persons in the department
for tailor-made costumes, ball dresses, fancy dresses, and mantles;
seven in the millinery department; and fifteen in the department for
dresses and underwear; besides some thirty salespeople. The showrooms
were extensive, and were replete with the latest novelties of all kinds,
and there were also large store-rooms for reserve goods. Mr. Francés
who was a native of Tarn, France, was born in 1849. He had been a
widower for the past fourteen years, and had six children. One of his
sons, Maurice Francés, was at the head of the business in 1909. His
manager in Cairo was Mr. Cesar Haddad.
Bakr Mohamed Choeb
Starting
in 1884 with a capital of one Egyptian pound, Bakr Mohamed Choeb had a
prosperous business in the neighbourhood of the Mousky, his
stock-in-trade consisting of furniture, sewing machines, cigarette
papers, matches, etc., which he imported directly from Trieste and from
his agents in France, Switzerland, and Sweden. He was a son of the late
Mohamed Choeb, an Arabic tailor, but having no inclination to follow his
father's trade, he joined El-Sayid Ahmed Nasr, a general merchant, as a
salesman, remaining with him one year. He then began business on his
own account, and for the first ten years purchased his stock from his
former employer; but latterly has dealt directly with the manufacturers.
Au Petit Bazaar
The
premises that were being erected in the Boulac Road, opposite the
Continental Buildings, in 1909 were evidence of the success which had
attended the business founded by Mr. Hannaux, later known as "Au Petit
Bazaar." Haberdashery and toys formed the stock of the original
establishment opened in the Mousky in 1882; but, by degrees, drapery,
silks, clothing, hosiery, and hats were added, until 1909 there was
scarcely any requirement in a person's outfit which the house could not
meet. In 1887 Mr. Moreno Cicurel, who had joined Mr. Hannaux as an
assistant, acquired the business, and on his retirement circa 1908 he
transferred the management to his sons, Solomon and Joseph, who, with
Mr. Moses Mano, traded under the style of "Les Fils de M. Cicurel &
Co." In 1904 a branch was opened at Ismailia, and the Company employed
nearly eighty persons. Mr. Morena Cicurel, who was in his fifty-eighth
year in 1909, was a native of Smyrna, but came at an early age to Egypt.
I. Hornstein
One
of the leading boot and shoe stores in Egypt was that of I. Hornstein,
situated in the Credit Lyonnais Building, Cairo. It was established in
the Mousky in 1893, and from small beginnings the trade had so increased
that in 1909 a stock of twenty thousand pairs of boots and shoes were
carried. Among well-known makes for which the establishment had the sole
agency in Egypt and the Soudan were those of E. & F. Bostock, of
Northampton, and C. & F. Balby, of Switzerland, besides the American
"Run-over Shoe." Mr. Hornstein, a son of the late D. Hornstein, jeweler
to Khedive Said Pasha, was born in Cairo in 1865, and was educated in
Egypt. He was apprenticed for three years to L. Juster, a shoe merchant,
and rose to the position of manager, which he held for eleven years. He
was a fluent linguist, speaking and writing eight different languages.
Married to Bertha, a daughter of S. Silbermann, of Cairo, he had two
sons and two daughters.
B. Tilche & Sons
Motor Room.
The founder of the firm of B. Tilche & Sons, bankers, was Mr,
Benedetto Tilche, a descendant of the Tilche family who settled in Egypt
more than four centuries ago in order to organize the trade in wheat
between Egypt and Italy. References to this family in certain letters,
which were found in Egypt in 1720 and 1780, show that its members at
that time occupied an influential position as bankers; while Count Carlo
Rosetti, who played a brilliant part in Egypt as a former Consul for
Italy, mentions the family as fulfilling an important role in the
history of the country. The first Tilche of whom there is record in
Egypt was Abrahamo Tilche. He had two sons, Giacomo, who died in his
minority, and Giuseppe, who, marrying a Miss Bellettri, became the
father of Benedetto, and died circa 1907. Senedetto, left to the
guardianship of a Mr. Lagnardo, who was nominated by the then Sardinian
Kingdom, entered upon a commercial career at an early age, and after
some years in partnership with others, decided to set up in business on
his own account, He was successful in all his undertakings, and
eventually came under the patrons of Mehemet Ali, who had great
confidence in him and asked him to develop the importation of gold and
silver for the purpose of embroidering officers’ uniforms. He also
opened up a large trade in cereals, under the style of Banka Tilche. In
1829 he married a daughter of Giacomo Salama, and by her had four sons,
Giuseppe, Giacomo, Moise, and Abramino, and one daughter, Bida. On
taking his sons into partnership in 1854 he changed the name of the firm
to B. Tilche & Sons. In 1869 the business, up till then confined
to Cairo, was extended to Alexandria, and by degrees cotton cultivation,
cotton broking, and cotton ginning were added to the other activities
of the firm. A large factory was opened at Ziftah, in the Province of
Gharbieh, which has since become a great cotton center. In 1905 the factory was re-equipped with a modern plant, capable of
producing about 1.700 kantars (kantar = 99°05 lb.) a day. There are two
sets of machinery, the first driven by a Deutz gas-motor of 300 i.h.p.,
and the second by a tandem steam engine of 50 h.p. In 1880 the firm
bought another factory for the ginning of their own produce at Chebin
el-Kanater, in the Province of Kaliubieh; it had an output of about 750
kantars a day in 1908. The power in this factory is also used to
operate a large flour mill adjoining. The senior partner of the firm at
the present day is Mr. Abramino Tilche, who was born in Cairo in 1850.
He occupies a leading position in local Italian society, and is a
judge-assessor of the Italian Consular Court, and president of the
Italian Chamber of Commerce. Until 1907 he was also a member of
the Alexandria Municipal Council. He is still vice-president of the
Italian Benevolent Society, and also vice-president of the Credit
Franco-Egyptien, and a director of the Société des Immeubles d'Égypte.
The other partners are Victor and Adolph Tilche (the third and fourth
sons of the late Giuseppe Tilche, and grandsons of Benedetto Tilche),
and Benedetto and Marcello, the two eldest sons of the late Giacomo
Tilche. Victor Tilche was born at Cairo in 1863; while Adolph was born
in June, 1872, at Alexandria. Benedetto Tilche was born at Cairo on
December 5, 1862, and was admitted to the partnership in 1878. He is on
the committee of the Crédit Franco-Egyptien. Marcello Tilche was born
in Cairo on October 24, 1860, and was admitted to the partnership in
1891. It should be added that Moise Tilche, already mentioned as a son
of the founders, left the firm in order to start business on his own
account with his sons. He died in 1904, leaving the firm Moise Tilche et
Fils.
Felix S. Green
Felix S. Green.
Felix S. Green's residence.
An
Austro-Hungarian subject, is a son of Solomon Green, the well-known
Cairo banker, but owes his success entirely to his own efforts. Born in
1874, he studied agricultural engineering locally and in France, taking
his diploma in 1894. On returning to Egvpt, he obtained employment with
the Société Générale des Sucreries d'Egypt, and remained with them for
seven years, rising to the position of manager of the agricultural
department. He was in charge of some 30,000 acres of agricultural land
in 1909, this area embracing estates belonging to various large
landowners, to his father and brothers, and to himself. He had offices
at No. 12, Rue Cherif Pasha, Alexandria. He married in November, 1904,
Janine, a daughter of the late Baron Elie J. L. de Menasce. He lived at
his own villa, situated in the Rue Rosette. He was on the committee of
the Asile Francis-Joseph, was an expert for agricultural matters before
the Courts, and was a member of the Khedivial Agricultural Society and
of the Mohamed Aly, Sailing, and Sporting Clubs.
The Commercial and Estates Company of Egypt
One
of the largest firms in the import timber trade in Egypt was the
Commercial and Estates Company of Egypt, late S. Karam et Frères, which
was founded at Alexandria in 1848 by Messrs Simeon, Georges, and
Théodore Karam, who came to this country from the city of Tripoli,
Syria. At first the business consisted chiefly in the importation of
Turkish timber, but the changes due to the demand for better class
dwellings were accompanied by an increased demand for timber of all
kinds, and the brothers found it necessary to make corresponding
extensions in their operations. The result was that 135 years ago their
business site was acquired, and upon it there were eight large tiled
store sheds in 1909, with an aggregate area of 30,000 square metres.
Even these were insufficient for the business needs, and the firm
contemplated the acquisition of larger premises to afford scope for the
further development. According to 1909 statistics, The firm imported
annually from 40,000 to 45,000 standards (a standard equals 165 cubic
feet), of which 40 per cent, consisted of white fir planks and
scantlings from Austria, Romania, and Galicia; 30 per cent. of hewn and
planed balks from Sweden and Finland; 16 per cent. of deals and battens
from Sweden; 10 per cent. of Turkish timber from Asia Minor; and the
remainder of pitch pine from Florida, U.S.A.
Large
quantities of timber were supplied to the Egyptian and Soudan
Governments for use principally by the railway departments, while still
greater quantities were supplied to wholesale merchants in the interior
for house construction and boat building for the Nile traffic. Only a
relatively small percentage was made up into furniture. A large staff is
employed all the year round, including some 29 clerks, 23 storekeepers,
15 overseers, and 250 workmen. In 1904 the firm of S. Karam et Frères
was formed into a company under the style of the Commercial and Estates
Company of Egypt, late S. Karam et Frères, with a capital of £E360,000.
The 1909 directors were Messrs. Georges, Theodore, Abdallah, Jacques,
Gabriel Tewfick, and Edward Karam, who owned practically all the shares;
while the auditor was Abdallah Bey Gorra, formerly manager of the
Alexandria branch of the Imperial Ottoman Bank. The premises of the firm
were situated in the Rue Echelles des Cereales and Rue Karam, near the
harbour quays. This Company possessed also branches at Tantah, Kafr
el-Sheikh, Mehallah el-Kebira, Tala, Benha, Cairo, and at Khartoum
(Soudan). The founders of the business, all natives of Tripoli, and
Greek subjects, were sons of Jacob Karam, who died in 1871. Simeon Karam
came to Alexandria in 1848 and died in 1888. His son Jacques, born at
Tripoli in 1874, was one of the directors of the Company in 1908.
Georges Karam, who came to Alexandria in 1850 and worked with his
brother Simeon in the timber business, was president of the Company. He
was also president of the Syrian Greek-Orthodox Community, an
administrator of the Alexandria Water Company, administrator of La
Société d'Entreprises Urbaines et Rurales, president of the Société
Bourse Khédiviale d'Alexandrie, and a member of the Communauté
Hellénique of his marriage with a daughter of Michel Souaya, of Tripoli,
he had two sons, Gabriel Tewfick and Edward, who were directors of the
Company; and five daughters, Roda, Asma, Nazie, Adèle, and Rose.
Théodore Karam, who came to Alexandria in 1857, was vice-president of
the Company. He was still the president of the Société de Bienfaisance
Grecque - Orthodoxe Syrienne. His only son, Emin, born in 1872 at
Alexandria, was in 1904 elected administrator of the Company, but in
1908 he retired in order to devote his time entirely to his private
affairs. Théodore Karam had also two daughters, Labibé and Nabiha.
Stagni and Figli
Stagni & Figli main offices.
Loading timber for rail transport to the interior.
General view of timber near the harbor.
View at the sheds.
In the timber sheds.
Discharging a timber vessel.
Established
at Rue Echelles des Céréales, Alexandria, Stagni and Figli was one of
the largest and most important firms in the timber trade in Egypt. They
imported chiefly from Turkey and Syria, doing a large trade in all
classes of wood suitable for building purposes. Their ramifications were
extensive, with well-established branches throughout the countrv.
Société du Béhéra
The
Société du Béhéra was formed in 1880 with the object of lifting water
by artificial means into various canals in the provinces of Beheireh and
Gharbieh. The repairing of the barrage, however, did away with the
necessity for pumping, and in 1894 the Company obtained permission from
Government to change their raison d'être into that of a land
company. The capital was raised to EGP 200.000, in shares of 20 pounds
each. In 1899 the capital was again increased by a sum of EGP 50,000
and the shares were reduced in value to 5 pounds, their number being
increased to 50,000. The share capital of the Company in 1909 was EGP
737,500. The principal object of the Company was the reclamation of
brackish and salt lands, the means employed being irrigation, drainage,
and the cultivation of certain plants which remove the salt. Altogether
about 150,000 feddans of waste land were purchased, and about half of
that area was converted into good arable land, and re-sold at a
considerable profit, besides their activities in the direction of land
reclamation, the Company, since 1885, have carried out numerous dredging
contracts for the Suez Canal Company and on Government canals. They
have some 15 dredgers continually at work. They also built a small
pumping station on the Mahmoudieh Canal for the Municipal Commission of
Alexandria. About 1907 they established at Halk el-Gamal, workshops
furnished with modern machinery. The foundry was under European
supervision, and special attention was given to the building of steam
dredgers. The head offices of the Company were located at No. 6, Rue
Adib. Alexandria.
Allen, Alderson & Co., Limited
The
business known as Allen, Alderson & Co., Ltd., engineers, importers
of machinery and contractors, was one of the largest of its class in
1909. Established circa 1859 it was well known throughout the whole of
Egypt. Its founder was Mr. Samuel Stafford Allen, who carried on the
business under the name of S. S. Allen & Co. He was joined in 1865
by Mr. George Beaton Alderson, who came out originally to Egypt for the
firm of Ransome and Sims, engineers. Mr. S. S. Allen died in 1870, and
his father. Mr. Stafford Allen, then joined Mr. Alderson in carrying on
the business. In 1873 Mr. Francis Allen came to Egypt, and when Mr.
Stafford Allen, Senior, retired a year or two later, he continued with
Mr. Alderson under the style of Allen, Alderson & Co. In 1900 the
business was sold to the proprietors, Allen, Alderson & Co., Ltd.,
of which the directors are Messrs. Geo. B. Aiderson, F. Allen, H. F.
Dickson, G. Alex. Alderson, Chas. A. H. Alderson, and Vita Castro. In
1909, the secretary was Mr. Donald R. Allen. The chief business
undertaken by the company was the installation of irrigation plants, of
which the pumps range from 3 inches up to 36 inches in diameter. They
were to be found all over the country. The largest plant of the kind was
that installed at El Baliana, Sohag; it was driven by two Ruston,
Proctor & Co., Ltd., Corliss engines of 500 h.p. each. Smaller
plants were driven by portable engines. The Company also made a feature
of supplying cotton-ginning machinery and factories complete. The
largest installation was laid down at Kafr el-Zayat in 1907, the power
was supplied by one of Ruston's latest drop valve engines of 1,200
i.h.p.
The
Company represented the following firms: Ruston, Proctor & Co.,
Ltd., of Lincoln, for fixed and portable engines, corn mills, pumps,
agricultural machinery, threshing machines, oil engines, and suction gas
plants; John Fowler & Co. (Leeds), Ltd., for steam ploughing
machinery; S. Chatwood and Sons, Ltd., of Bolton, and Ratner's Safe Co.,
Ltd., of London, for safes; Cammed, Laird & Co., Ltd., of
Sheffield, for steel rails, spring buffers, &c.; F. Reddaway &
Co., of Pendleton, Manchester, for "Camel" brand belting and indiarubber
goods; Green & Sons, of Wakefield, for patent fuel economisers;
Stewarts & Lloyds, Ltd., of Birmingham and Glasgow, for gas and
steam piping and fittings; McCormick & Co., U.S.A., for reapers and
mowers; Merryweather & Sons, Ltd., of Greenwich, for steam and
manual fire engines; Planet, Junior, of Philadelphia. U.S.A., for
agricultural implements; Fawcett, Preston & Co., for hydraulic
presses; Oliver & Co., South Bend, Indiana, U.S.A., for ploughs; and
Allen Ransome & Co., Ltd., of Newarkon-Trent, for woodworking
machinery.
The
Company had extensive stores in Alexandria, where they kept a large
stock of portable and fixed engines, steam pumps, corn mills, steam
ploughing, and general machinery, with all their accessories, and are in
a position to execute orders and contracts of practically any
magnitude.
Stross Brothers
Stross
Brothers was one of the oldest houses of importers and general
merchants in Egypt.The business was founded at Cairo in 1865 by Leopold
and Emanuel Stross; a branch was opened in Alexandria three years later;
and in 1882 Mr. Leopold Stross proceeded to Vienna to establish a
further branch in that city. Since the death of Mr. Leopold Stross in
1884, the head offices had been transferred from Cairo to Alexandria,
and a third brother, Mr. Gustave Stross, had been admitted to the
partnership. Some years after the death of Mr. Leopold Stross, the
manager of the Vienna branch, Mr. Adolf Goldschmidt, became a partner in
the firm, and later on Messrs. Rudolf, Karl, and Oscar Stross, sons of
Mr. Emanuel Stross, were also admitted to partnership.
Société Carmel Oriental
The office and stores, Alexandria.
Weighing grapes.
The
society was established by Mr. Gluskin. The Carmel Oriental's branch in
Egypt enjoyed a distinct advantage in that the duties on wines and
cognacs imported into the country are low as compared with those of
other countries, especially those which had their own wine-growing
industries, such as France, Russia, and America, where prohibitive
tariffs were imposed. For this reason, no wonder tourists who traveled
in the Orient were supplied at extremely low prices with wine of exactly
the same trade-mark as that for which they were called upon to pay high
prices in their own countries. In Alexandria especially, thanks to the
measures taken by the Municipal Commission to check the practice of the
adulteration of alimentary products, the Richon le Zion wines, being
absolutely natural products, had every prospect of a successful future.
Added to this, the vicinity of Palestine to Egypt, and the fact that
grapes ripen earlier in Palestine than in other countries, owing to the
hot and dry climate prevailing, ensure that the Richon le Zion wines
could be placed on the Egyptian market at a much earlier date than all
other vintages.
The
Alexandria office, which was managed by Mr. David Idelovitch, was in
the Rue de l'Ancienne Bourse; that at Cairo, managed by Messrs. H.
Isaacsohn and I. Cahanoff, was situated in the Chareh el-Maghraby; and
that at Port Said, managed by Mr. G. Papiermeister, was in the Rue du
Commerce.
Alexandria New Market
Views of the interior of the Alexandria Market.
Alexandria,
the rich commercial capital of Egypt, with its enlightened
Municipality, its cosmopolitan merchant princes, and its numerous
population, lacked, strangely enough, until early 1900s, a central
market for the supply of its daily provisions. It was left to the
initiative and enterprise of Dégiardé Brothers to supply this want. The
New Alexandria Market, as the magnificent structure was named, was
situated in the very heart of Alexandria, and the principal
thoroughfares of the town converged at its gates. The building measured
170 metres in length and 36 metres in width, thus covering an area of
over 6,000 square meters; but of this area only about one-half was
occupied by stalls, the other half being given up to wide avenues and
halls. The building was lofty and well-ventilated, and the most modern
accessories had been introduced unsparingly. All the counters were of
white Carrara marble; and the butchers' and other fittings were
nickel-plated, while ornamental marble fountains decorated the four
spacious halls, giving the place more the appearance of an exhibition
pavilion than of a public market. The walls of the fish-market were
lined with white enamelled tiles, and those of all the stalls were
plastered with Portland cement. A special feature of this market was the
provision made for advertisements. An area of about 3,000 square meters
of the slanting roof had been reserved for this modern requirement; the
position was admirably chosen, and was bound to be much appreciated by
advertisers. The cold storage installation, which was situated
underneath the main hall, and had a cubic capacity of about 1,000
meters, was being carried out by the well-known firm of J. & E.
Hall, of Dartford. Care and attention had been given to every detail in
order to enhance the general beauty of the building and to safeguard the
public health.
R. Stabile & Co., Late T. Cumbo & Co.
T.
Cumbo and R. Stabile carried on business as coal merchants in
Alexandria circa 1877 under the style of T. Cumbo & Co. In 1903 the
former died, and the other style was adopted, Mr. R. Stabile taking Mr.
Antonio Fabri into partnership; while in 1908 Mr. Alberto Stabile was
admitted as a partner in the firm. The importation of coal had gradually
increased from 15,000 or 20,000 tons to 200,000 tons, two-thirds of
which was Welsh coal. Much of the coal was used inland to provide energy
for agricultural and irrigation purposes, and the firm had also large
contracts with steamship owners for the supply of bunker coal. Their
offices were situated in the Rue Adib, and they had large depots, with a
frontage of some 375 yards, on the coal quays. They employed a staff of
some twenty overseers, and at times as many as four hundred coolies.
J. Rolo & Co.
The
firm of J. Rolo & Co. was established in April, 1907. The founders
were Mr. Jacob Rolo and his three sons, Robert, Claude, and Ibram. Their
business was that of bankers, coal merchants, and general importers and
exporters. They imported annually some 150,000 tons of Welsh and
Newcastle coal, most of which was sent directly to the interior for use
in pumping and cotton-ginning installations. Their depots on the coaling
quays had a total frontage of about 3,000 yards, and they had their own
waggons, barges, and other facilities for carrying on the trade. Their
other imports were chiefly rice, sugar, jute bags, and coffee. They
exported large quantities of cotton and cotton seed, derived partly from
their own estates, and partly by purchase on the local markets. They
were also interested in various agricultural development schemes, among
which may be mentioned those on the Cheik Fadl estate of 7,000 feddans,
later leased by the Société Générale des Sucreries et de la Raffinerie
d'Egypte, and the Wadi Kom Ombo estate of 70,000 feddans, of which some
20,000 were under cotton, wheat, and barley. The offices of the firm
were situated at No. 14, Rue Sesostris. Mr. Jacob Rolo, the resident
partner, was born in Cairo, and, after receiving a general education
locally, he joined his father who was in business as an importer of
indigo. In course of time he became a partner in the firm of Suares
Frères, Cairo, and in connection with them, and with his sons and other
partners, he started in Alexandria the firm of R. Rolo, Figli & Co.
Mr. Rolo was a director of the National Bank of the Wadi Kom Ombo
estate, of the Alexandria Bonded Stores and Warehouses Company, and of
the National Insurance Company of Egypt; he was chairman of the Société
d'Entreprises Urbaines et Rurales; and he was on the committee of the
General Produce Association. He had a splendid residence in the
Boulevard d'Allemagne. Mr. Robert Rolo and Mr. Ibram Rolo toke an active
part in the business, the former representing the firm on the Coal
Association, of which he was vice-president. Mr. Claude Rolo had a
French diploma as a civil engineer, and was engaged as an engineer and
contractor under the Customs Department.
Salinas Brothers
Mr.
Alfred Salinas, of the firm of Salinas Brothers, is a son of Mr. Jack
Salinas, stockbroker, of Tuscany, Italy, who settled in Egypt in the
19th century and died in 1899. Born at Leghorn, Tuscany, on January 8,
1856, Mr. Alfred Salinas was educated in Alexandria. In 1871, he joined a
stockbroker's office, and rose to the position of chief accountant. For
a few years he was engaged by Benadi & Bonfanti, and afterwards
with Mr. Laurens, stockbroker. With a partner he established himself as
stockbroker and insurance representative, but retired to join the firm
of Walmar, Borg & Co., as chief cashier, in 1879. After a period of
service with the Alexandria Water Company, he set up in business as a
stockbroker with his brother Charles, under the style of Fratelli
Salinas, and the firm has been carried on with great success. He is a
landed proprietor. Married to Hariot, a daughter of S. Ascarelli, of
Rome, he had three sons—James, Walter, and Gino. Mr. Charles Salinas was
born in Alexandria on October 25, 1866, and was educated in Egypt. From
1882 to 1888 he was engaged in various stockbrokers' offices, and then
inaugurated a business of his own, taking his brothers Alfred and Joseph
in partnership in 1898. He had been a member of the committee of the
Stockbrokers' Association since 1904, and was a director of the
Aronolite Society, and the Aly Pasha Civil Society.
Hassabo Mohamed & Co.
Founded
in 1882 by Hassabo Mohamed, a son of the late Ahmad Mohamed, the
business carried on by the above-named firm occupied a prominent place
in the commercial life of Alexandria. All branches of engineering were
undertaken, and large quantities of machinery were stocked. Among other
important agencies held by the Company was that for Davey, Paxman &
Co., Ltd., a well-known engineering firm. Hassabo Mohamed was born in
1861, and after his father's death in 1875, he applied himself to the
study of mechanics. He was a regular exhibitor at various shows held in
Egypt, and was awarded seven gold medals, two silver medals, and many
certificates. He was the inventor of two pumps for agricultural
purposes, which compared very favourably with the best pumps of European
manufacture for simplicity and efficiency. In 1905 Hassabo Bey Mohamed
prepared the plans for the Mohamed Ali School of Arts at Alexandria, and
he personally superintended the building of the school, the erection of
the engines and machinery, and the arrangement of the various
departments. When the school was inaugurated by H.H. the Khedive in
February, 1908, the Bey was decorated for his services. He had
previously received the rank of Bey of the Motamaiz grade. The Bey is a
member of the Alexandria Municipal Commission and was interested in
several local charitable societies.
Nicolas E. Tamvaco
Persevering
hard work, extending over a period of nearly 143 years, had been
responsible for the position of the firm of Nicolas E. Tamvaco, general
merchants and shipping agents. The founder, a native of Alexandria,
began life in the service of the Banque Transatlantique, with which
institution he remained four years. In 1882 he started trading on his
own account as an exporter of cotton seed, wheat, beans, and other
produce. He acquired practically a monopoly of this trade in the south
of France, and the business had since been so extended that the firm
later had dealings with nearly all parts of the world. Since circa 1888
the firm had devoted their attention also to shipping. They secured
various important agencies, including those for the Ellerman Line, the
Leyland group of steamships (later known as the City Line), and the
Westcott and Lawrence Line ; and they handled the consignments of nearly
all the Greek steamers entering the port of Alexandria. The firm owned
many valuable blocks of buildings in the town, including that in which
their offices were situated at the corner of the Rue Sesostris and the
Rue Stamboul, besides numerous plots of building land. They had large
warehouses and depots at Gabbary and at Minat el-Basal. Mr. Tamvaco was
married in 1880 to Corinna de Syllas Zucco, and had three sons and two
daughters. His eldest son, George, was admitted to partnership circa
1909, as had, also, Mr. Auguste Hasda, who for some time had fulfilled
the duties of manager. Mr. Tamvaco's eldest daughter, Helen, was married
to Mr. Alec. J. Choremi, of the well-known firm of Choremi, Benachi
& Co.
Thos. Hinshelwood & Co., Ltd.
View from Hall, General Offices.
Entrance Hall to General Offices.
Thos.
Hinshelwood & Co., LTD. occupied a leading position in Egypt and
the Soudan among the importers of oils, colors, varnishes, and paints,
which they imported direct from their well-known works in Glasgow. In
Egypt they have added to their interests an important and steadily
growing branch business of general merchants and importers, and
Government contractors. Their connection with Egypt was started by the
appointment of a local agent some fifteen years ago, who was visited
from time to time by the founder and head of the business, Mr. Thos.
Hinshelwood. It was not long, however, before the desirability of
establishing direct relations with the firm's customers became apparent,
and in 1899 a branch was opened in Alexandria. Since then, under the
management of Mr. Peter Andrew Malone, the firm's business in Egypt and
the Soudan had never retrogressed. The firm, in addition to having
extensive offices in Rue Sidi Abil Dardar, owned stores on their own
freehold property. Further, a branch house at Cairo was opened later. In
1906, the business was taken over by a private limited company, Mr.
Thos. Hinshelwood being the chairman and managing director, and Mr
Malone the managing director in Egypt. The Company were agents for the
Yost Typewriter Company, Ltd.; the Library Bureau, Ltd. ; and the
Belfast Ropework Company, Ltd.
Clayton Gas Company of Egypt and Soudan, Ltd.
The
Clayton Gas Company of Egypt and the Soudan, Ltd., was one of six
similar companies established in Europe, America, India, and the Far
East which undertook the disinfection of all places where disease germs
were likely to breed. The system which was employed to effect this end
was very simple. Into an apartment which had previously been made as
air-tight as possible the Clayton gas was pumped through flexible pipes
by a small engine until the required percentage had been obtained. After
a couple of hours, when the gas is withdrawn by means of the engine,
the chamber is left completely sterilised and free from insects. This
process had been so severely tested in other countries. At the Tor
quarantine station, during the return of the pilgrims from Mecca, every
ship was disinfected before it was allowed to proceed, and arrangements
had been made for erecting special chambers in which to disinfect shoes,
leather belts, and other articles of clothing, which would be ruined by
the old-fashioned high-pressure steam process. The Railway
Administration, also, had erected a shed to enable its rolling stock to
be disinfected from time to time. Many tests had been made under the
personal supervision of Mr. F. Mackinnon, the managing director of the
Company in Egypt, for the Quarantine Board and the Railway authorities,
and they had clearly demonstrated that all contagious and infectious
diseases were completely sterilised at a very low cost. The Alexandria
Municipality had voted a sum for a further series of tests to be carried
out under the surveillance of the medical officer.
Thomas
Cook & Son, Ltd., too, had given instructions for the whole of
their flotilla to be disinfected at the beginning and end of each season
in order to ensure the comfort and safety of their clients, and the
Quarantine Board of Cyprus was negotiating for the installation of the
system in the ports under its jurisdiction. The Clayton Gas Company had
working in Alexandria one steam launch fitted with two special fire
pumps capable of delivering 1,500 gallons of water a minute through six
branches, and three portable plants for house to house disinfection. At
Port Said there was a steam launch similar to that stationed at
Alexandria, and there were two portable plants. Suez was furnished with
one launch, while Port Soudan had a floating plant specially adapted to
its requirements. At Cairo there was a launch on the Nile and a powerful
steam waggon, as well as the complete railway installation. The
portable plants could easily be transferred by rail to any town or
village in the interior where they might be required.
Hess & Co.
This
German firm was established in Alexandria in 1865 by the late Mr.
Christian Hess, and a house was opened in Cairo in 1869. In 1889, the
founder died, and his eldest son, Fritz Hess, who was then manager, took
over the business, assuming his brother Adolf, who was in charge of the
Cairo house, as partner in 1903. The Cairo offices were in the Mousky
quarter, and the Alexandria office in Rue de France. The firm were sole
agents for Arthur Krupp, Berndorf (Austria); Gebr. Schoeller, Duren
(Germany); Delmenhorster Linoleum- Fabrik, Delmenhorst (Germany); Natura
Milch-Export-Gesellschaft, Waren (Germany); S. J. Arnheim, Berlin;
Actiengesellschaft für Anilinfabrikation, Berlin; Nobles & Hoare,
London; and Walter R. Taylor & Co., Liverpool. The firm carried,
amongst others, large stocks of the Rhine and Moselle wines of Adolph
Huesgen, Traben & Trier, and the Bordeaux wines of Francis Weiss,
Bordeaux. Mr. Fritz Hess was born at Trieste on October 31, 1864, and
was educated in Egypt and Germany. Upon returning to Egypt in 1886, he
joined his father, and became head of the firm. He had two sons and one
daughter by Clara, daughter of the late Rudolf Munch, Germany. Mr. Hess
had been on the Committee of the Importers' Association since 1901, and
was president of the German School at Alexandria, besides being on the
committees of the Diaconess Hospital and the Evangelical Church.
The Oriental Carpet Manufacturers, Ltd.
At
this Company, a spinning factory, thoroughly up-to-date in every
respect,. prepared the yarns needed for the different qualities, and the
Company produced and distributed them to their agencies in the interior
of Anatolia. The Company used only the fastest dyes. The finest wools
were procured by agents of the Company in the centres of production in
Asia Minor and Persia. In order to be in a position to satisfy the
extensive demand which had set in for its fabrics, the Company had
raised the number of their looms to 20,000, scattered throughout thirty
districts of Asia Minor. This necessitated the constant employment of
not less than 100,000 weavers, supervised and guided by experts. A
nucleus of skilled artists had gradually been formed around an
enlightened administration, and the Company possessed an unequalled
collection of 8,000 designs, harmonious in color and of skilled
workmanship, in which the adherence to classical and traditional
treatment had been successfully maintained. Agencies had been
established by the Company in the principal European capitals,
especially in the Levant. Their stocks in Cairo formed an attractive
exhibition well worth a visit.
S. Stein
Entrance
of the Mousky district, with La Grande Fabrique, S. Stein Department
Store appears in the background, ,Cairo, 1904. Photo by Léon et Lévy.
La
Grande Fabrique S. Stein, at the entrance of Mousky district,
Cairo, 1904. Built by the architect, Antonio Lasciac. Photo by Atelier
Reiser.
The Premises
First Floor
Showrooms
Premises in Place Mohamed Ali, Alexandria.
Tantah premises.
The
story of the well-known establishments of S. Stein was one relating the
realization of practical ideals. Founded in Cairo, in 1863, by the late
Mr. S. Stein, the business had developed from modest beginnings as a
ready-made clothing store to its activities as a wholesale and retail
house, with branches in Alexandria, Tantah, Constantinople, Galata,
Stamboul, Salonika, and a huge manufacturing base in Vienna. The
Alexandria branch was opened in 1875, and occupied an imposing building
at the corner of the Place Mohamed Ali and the Rue des Soeurs. It had a
total frontage of 200 yards, and in few warehouses in the country could
be seen such a lavish array of goods of all descriptions as were
displayed in its windows and various departments. Special
representatives in Paris, Berlin and London were engaged in order that
the house might be supplied regularly with the latest creations of
fashion, and the stock was so continually replenished that customers
might rely upon all their purchases being fresh and in good condition.
Ladies', gentlemen's, and children's requirements, however exacting,
were invariably met, and the firm had the satisfaction of knowing that
their clientele included numerous customers who had dealt with them for
many years. The secret of their success was that they used every
endeavor to secure that in making a new customer they make a new
friend.
Rudolf Stobbe
The Premises of Rudolf Stobbe, Opera Square, Cairo.
Rudolf Stobbe's premises at Alexandria.
A
native of Graudenz, Mr. Rudolf Stobbe received his technical education
as a jeweler in the best workshops of Berlin, Paris, and Vienna.
Recognizing that his native land held out no prospects for the rapid
advance of a young man, Mr. Stobbe left for abroad at the age of
twenty-eight years. Five years later, in 1885, he began business on his
own account as a jeweler at Alexandria, and believing there was a great
future in the copying of the ancient art of Egypt in gold and precious
stones, he devoted himself to this class of work. By dint of steady
application he speedily established a reputation throughout Egypt, and
his workshops at 29, Rue Cherif Pasha were much frequented by those who
admired the choicest products of the jeweler's art. Modern work in gold,
silver, and precious stones in his own designs were as much a feature
of his establishment as the Egyptian copies with which he won his
reputation. In his workshops Mr. Stobbe employd thirty specialists and
eight native workmen, under his own supervision. In 1904 he opened a
branch establishment at Cairo. It was situated in the Place de l'Opéra,
and was under the management of Mr. Sheffield.
Gramophone Company, Ltd.
The
Egyptian branch of the Gramophone Company, Ltd., whose trade marks "His
Master's Voice" and "The Angel Writing" were so well known, was opened
in July, 1905, by Mr. Vassallo, who had visited the country on several
occasions as a representative of the Company's branch in Milan. He was
shortly afterwards superseded by Mr. K. F. Vogel, who had had many
years' experience with the Company in Italy, Switzerland, and Austria.
Up to that time no serious attempts had been made to record the voices
of native artists, although it is true that a few phonographic cylinders
were produced from the voice of the late well-known exponent of Arabic
music, Abdou el-Hamouli. Mr. Vogel fully realized the importance of
making Arabic records. The Oriental has a great love for music, and,
though the long-drawn notes and apparently monotonous cadences of the
native songs do not appeal to Western ears, the Arabs themselves hold
their artists in high esteem, and no social function is complete without
the services of one or more of them. Some of the more noted singers
were approached, including Cheick Youssef el-Manialawi, Mohamed Effendi
el Sabegh, and Abd el-Hai Effendi, and the success of the records was
immediate and extraordinary. More adequate premises were taken in the
Rue Stamboul, Alexandria, and a large staff was engaged to cope with the
growing business. As of 1909, there was hardly any town in Upper or
Lower Egypt or the Soudan in which the Company had not an agency. In
Cairo the Company had a spacious retail shop in the Continental Hotel
Buildings. In the spring of 1908 the Company were appointed fournisseurs
to H.H. the Khedive, who was pleased also to accept a gramophone and a
selection of Arabic and European records. At their depot in Alexandria
the Company held a stock of instruments and records sufficient to meet
all demands for a period of three months. What this means will be more
fully realized when it is borne in mind that the records were in seven
different languages and dialects—English, French, Italian, Greek,
Turkish, and Egyptian, Syrian and Arabic—so cosmopolitan is the
population of Egypt.
Cav. Giuseppe Giulio Mattioli
Cav.
Giuseppe Giulio Mattioli, Managing director of the Industrial Building
Company of Egypt, and of the Egyptian Sanitary Engineering Company, came
to Alexandria in November, 1904, and established himself as an engineer
and architect. Up to the time he accepted his appointment, he was
responsible for the erection of the Savoy Palace Hotel, the Israelite
Temple, and several other important buildings in Alexandria; and
previous to his arrival in Egypt he was engaged on numerous large
engineering contracts, such as the construction of the Lecco-Calico
Railway and the Galatz-Berlat Railway, on the Continent. A son of the
late Francis Mattioli, of Bologna, Italy, he was born in 1866, and was
educated at the Polytechnic College, Bologna, securing his diploma in
1887. Mr. Mattioli, who was married to Elena, a daughter of Samuel
Rieti, of Ferrara, took a great interest in the affairs of the local
Italian Community. He was a member of various committees, including that
of the Dante Alighieri Society.
Xenophon Giovanidi
Xenophon
Giovanidi is a son of the late Jean Giovanidi, who settled in Egypt in
1816, and died in 1895 at the age of ninety-five. Born in Alexandria in
1857, and educated locally, be entered his father's coal business, and
in course of time assisted in opening up a considerable area of land for
cotton cultivation, and in developing some valuable building property
in the town. He was vice-president of the Greek Community of Ibrahimieh,
Ramleh, and had presented a fine church, which costed over EGP 4,000,
to that community. His wife, Fanny, whom he married in 1897, is a
daughter of Avusti Politi, of Athens.
Adolphe Bogdadly
Adolphe
Bogdadly was born in Alexandria, and after receiving a primary
education, he entered the Gymnasium at Gratz, in Austria. He continued
his studies at the Agricultural Institute at Vienna, and in 1897
received his diploma as an agricultural engineer. The two following
years he spent in travel, visiting the chief agricultural districts in
Austria, Hungary, and Germany, and he then returned to Egypt to take
charge of the agricultural lands belonging to his father, the late
Yacoub E. Bogdadly. He made several valuable experiments in cotton
growing, fruit culture, and the raising of cereal and other crops, and
in the application of artificial manures to various soils. He had placed
the results upon record in various articles which he had written. A
long article from his pen on "Cotton in Egypt" appeared in one of the
issues of the African World, and he had also written studies entitled
"La Culture des Aurantiacées en Egypte" and " La Bactériologie dans
l'Agriculture." He was vice-president of l'Union Syndicale des
Agriculteurs d'Egypte, which he was partly instrumental in founding; he
was a member of the Khedivial Agricultural Society, the Société
d'Histoire Naturelle; and he was on the Conseil Agricole of the Ecoles
des Arts et Métiers. He was one of the expert advisers on agricultural
matters to the Austrian Consular Court. He possessed an agricultural and
technical bureau, his object being to develop in Egypt all modern
methods for the cultivation and improvement of the soil.
Aristide R. Giro
Aristide
R. Giro was a son of the late Athanassi Giro, who came over from Turkey
and settled in Egypt as a merchant in 1813. Mr. Giro was born in
Alexandria in 1844, and at the age of fifteen entered upon a commercial
career. He had a flourishing business as a merchant and general
importer, and was one of the largest landed proprietors in the town. He
married in 1870, Athenà, a daughter of the late Gerassimo Kakuri, a
former merchant of Missolonghi, Greece, and had two sons, Athanassi and
Adrian, who were assisting him in the conduct of his business.
Jean C. Paléologo
Jean
C. Paléologo, manager of the business and properties of Mr. Antoine J.
Antoniades, was born in Lemnos (Turkey) in 1852. Mr. Jean Paléologo's
father came to Egypt, where he carried on business in various articles
for several years. Mr. Paléologo himself came to Egypt in 1863, and
joined his uncle, Nicolas Giro, a Cairo merchant, importing chiefly
Manchester goods, and exporting Soudanese produce. In 1886 Mr. Paléologo
started business on his own account as a commission agent, dealing in
metals and building materials at Cairo. In 1896, he accepted power of
attorney for the firm of Mr. Antoniades and managed the business with
great ability. Mr. Paléologo was married to Mme. Euterpe, a daughter of
the late Theofani Moscoudi, a former leading merchant of Alexandria and a
great benefactor of his native island, Lemnos.
Credit: Twentieth Century Impressions of Egypt. Its History, People, Commerce, Industries and Resources.