Youssef Aftimus

Who was Youssef Aftimus?

Youssef Aftimus; was a Lebanese civil engineer and architect who specialized in Arabo-Mauresque architecture. Aftimus was the leading Lebanese architect and urban planner during the first half of the twentieth century, he is the author of many of Beirut's well known landmarks such as the Beirut Municipality Building, the Grand Serail's Hamidiyyeh clock tower, the Hamidiyyeh Fountain and the Barakat Building. Aftimus was also an academic, a journalist, a visionary urban planner an enthusiastic patriot, politician and philanthropist.