Dar Moulay Ali

The residence was built in the 1820s, during the reign of Sultan Moulay Abd ar-Rahman, by Sulayman as-Siyadmi, a qaid of the Chiadma tribe.

The house was decorated with painted arabesque motifs, zellij tilework, and epigraphic Arabic inscriptions.

An imposing menzeh or viewing pavilion originally stood on its southwestern side, next to the mosque, but this was demolished in the 1920s.

The residence's original main entrance was on its northeast side, where a large rectangular riad garden (a garden divided into four parts by two crossing paths, with a central fountain at the intersection of the paths) led up to a decorated porch in front of the entrance doorway.

This courtyard and the riad garden, however, were mostly demolished in the 20th century when the main road on its east side was enlarged, although traces of it have been preserved and can be seen outside the present-day walls of the residence.

Dar Moulay Ali, seen in an aerial photograph in 1930–31, near the Kutubiyya Mosque (partly visible in the upper left). The main residence (upper middle) is visible, as is the former riad garden (upper right) which formed its main entrance on its east side. A larger garden was located on its south side (middle and lower right).
Arches and garden outside the Dar Moulay Ali today, formerly part of the palace's outer (eastern) garden