Qasr El Nil Street

[1] The street and its new building designs were part of creating a new international downtown district, to link to Egypt's rich Islamic heritage and institutions with the many new foreign enterprises, at the turn of the 20th century in Cairo.

Qasr El Nil Street extends (east to west): from the Abdeen Palace at Abdeen Square, passes a vibrant business district, Bab El-Lauq Market, and the American University in Cairo—Downtown Campus, is joined by Talaat Harb Street and passes through Tahrir Square with The Mogamma building and Egyptian Antiquities Museum, and then crosses the Nile River on the Qasr El Nil Bridge, to end on Gezira Island.

The lower area was part of the Nile's natural pond, marsh, wetland, and riparian zone habitats for millennia, making this an ambitious civil engineering project.

The existing 1880s Khairy Pasha palace was higher in the eastern Tahrir Square area, and later was absorbed into the American University in Cairo downtown campus.

[2] This area was eventually part of the urban district called 'Ismailiya' and 617 acres (2.50 km2) were allocated for this new neighborhood in which Qasr el Nil Street was centered.

[1] Some of the landmarks on or near Qasr El Nil Street, from east to west, include: The Abdeen Palace was built by Khedive Ismail in the 19th century to become the official government headquarters and royal residence, replacing the Citadel of Cairo used by rulers since the Middle Ages.

The Qasr el Nil British Army Barracks were demolished in 1947 and replaced by an expanded Tahrir Square and the early 1950s modernist Nile Hilton Hotel complex.

Lamppost.
Historic circa early 1900s Beaux-arts lanterns and lamppost on Qasr el Nil Street.
The Abdeen Palace and its gardens, above the eastern end of Qasr El Nil Street (circa early 1900s).
The Sednaoui Department Store.
The Beaux-Arts style Sednaoui Department Store, on eastern Qasr El Nil Street.
The Royal Automobile Club.
The Neo-Islamic style Royal Automobile Club, on central Qasr El Nil Street.
The street approaches the flanking Lion statues at the Qasr El Nil Bridge, circa 1930s.
Qasr El Nil Street crossing the Nile on the Qasr El Nil Bridge .
The Egyptian Modern Art Museum , at the western end of Qasr El Nil Street on Gezira Island .
Meeting of Qasr El Nil Street and Talaat Harb Street at entry into Tahrir Square, shown during a 2011 Egyptian protest demonstration .