Tabatabai House

The historical Tabatabai House

The luxurious Tabatabai House is situated in the historic centre of Kashan. It took the wealthy Tabatabai family nearly 10 years to construct this mansion. The house was built in 1835 by the head of the family, Seyed Jafar Tabatabai, a carpet merchant during the Qajar dynasty (1790–1925). The story of the construction of the historical Tabatabai House is a tale of love. Mr Tabatabai instructed the architects to design the house’s decorations and forms based on the legend of the Huma bird (the phoenix), as it was the name of his wife, whom he loved dearly.

Architecture of the Tabatabai House

The house covers approximately 5000 square metres and features the three classic elements of traditional Persian architecture: the outer section – a public area where receptions were held; the inner section, used as a private area for women; and a designated area for servants. It includes forty rooms, four courtyards – the main one with pools and fountains at the centre of the house, two courtyards for the women’s area in a secluded part of the house, and one for the servants – as well as three badgirs (windcatchers) and two qanats (channels for water supply).

The exterior of the house is rather unremarkable. However, the interior astonishes with its beauty and elegance.

In addition to the exquisite interior, adorned with paintings, mirror mosaics, intricate mouldings, oriental patterns, and vaulted ceilings, the house is also exceptionally well designed.

Due to the thoughtful distribution of sunlight and the use of badgirs (windcatchers), the rooms remain cool even in hot weather and warm during the colder months.

The house is situated 6 metres below the level of the surrounding ground to protect its residents from sandstorms and the harsh desert climate.

The architecture of the mansion combines traditional Iranian style with carefully planned masonry, fine plasterwork, elegant mouldings, a vaulted ceiling painted with traditional patterns, colourful stained-glass windows, and European influences, including frescoes in the women’s section of the house. Additionally, in this part of the mansion, the walls are adorned with mirror mosaics designed to evoke the starry sky during prolonged sandstorms.