Talaat Harb Street

Despite Nasser's attempt to mask colonial Egypt's history, done in the 1950s and 1960s, the structural design of the upper building facades on Talaat Harb Street is a reminder of a multi-colonial past.

He who stressed urban planning for the first time in Cairo, to include broad, linear gridded streets, open spaces and parks, geometric balance and harmony, and then modern European architectural styles.

Identical glossy storefronts strung together along the street level provide a degree of continuity and collectively sacrifice the history disappearing above them for an eager pursuit of western culture and commerce.

Perhaps of greater destruction to the Groppi enterprise was its interaction with President Nasser, as he ordered a bomb be placed inside the downtown shop in an effort to promote public insecurity and gain his legitimacy.

Groppi still exists today, with unprofessional staff, a minuscule choice of pastry and drinks, and tables and floors uncleaned for a long time making the establishment into a museum not of its past glory but of Soviet-style mismanagement and contempt of customers.

Among this conglomeration of neglected elegance and makeshift renovation stands the glimmering white grandeur of the Egyptian Diplomatic Club at the corner of Talaat Harb and Abdel Salam Araf Street.

Such an effort is well suited in its position on Talaat Harb as the street exudes the attitude written on the pages of this magazine: pursuit of economic innovation coupled with a rich mix of cultural influences from the western and eastern world.

The businesses are trying to develop economic strength in the modern world's marketing aesthetics, while inadvertently ignoring their own rich cultural heritage here in the Talaat Harb Street backdrop of a Euro-Islamic Ottoman era balance and prosperity.