Businesses in Egypt, 1909

Businesses in Egypt, 1909

 

 

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.

Benjamin Nathan.

 

Frances Allen.

 

 

S. Willhoff.

Capt. F. Baldovina.

 

 

M. Xippas.

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.

Rudolf Stobbe.

 

 

Alfred Moring

 

F. Phillips.

 

George H. Stephenson.

 

Alexander I. Howie.

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.

 

Jacob Schellenberg.

 

N. E. Tamvaco.

 

Ercole Fedrigo.

 

Joseph Segrè.

 

J. C. Paleologo.

 

W. Ablitt.

 

W. Abel.

 

G. Castro.

 

Luigi Ghezzo.

 

Enrico Nistri.

 

C. N. Stroumzi.

 

Henri Meyer.

 

Clement Y. Misrahi.

 

Adolf Hess.

 

Antoine Sant.

 

A. Ferrero.

 

Alfred Salinas.

 

J. Gallet.

 

Michel Mirshak.

G. Bollhalder.

Vacuum Oil Company

The Cairo Staff.

 

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.

E. Dentamaro .

 

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

 

The Cairo Office.

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.

Filippo 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.

 Apartment Building in Ezbekieh, Cairo, undertaken by G. Garozzo & Sons Co., 1930.

Restaurant at Heliopolis.

 

Villa Hug, Gezireh.

Cairo Fire Brigade Station.

 

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.

 

 

Plan of a building in course of construction at Shoubra.

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.

 

The premises.

 

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.

 

Max Raff

 

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.

Cotton Presses.

 

Ginning Room.

 

In the Yard.

 

The cotton factory at Zifteh.

 

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.

 

Mrs. 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

 

Giovanni Stagni, Founder of the Firm.

 

 Stagni & Figli main offices.

 

 

Loading timber for rail transport to the interior.

Shipping timber on the Mahmoudieh Canal.

 

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.

Bringing the grapes to the factory.

 

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.

 

A. P. Degiarde.

Th. Degiarde.

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.

Ladies' and Drapery Department.

 

Gentlemen's Clothing Department.

 

Entrance Hall.

 

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.