In 2001, it was rented by Mamdouh Bisharat, a Jordanian heritage conservationist and businessman, at double its price to prevent the building's owners from knocking it down.

The rooms of the Diwan, filled with antiquities, pictures, and old furniture, are arranged to show visitors how Jordanians lived during the 20th century.

Bisharat says he started his preservation efforts in 1958 when he bought archaeological pieces destined for the black market from treasure hunters and handed them over and registered them in Jordan's Department of Antiquities.

[3] Bisharat turned the building into a Diwan, which is the Arabic word for a room that is always open to guests; a gathering place for artists, thinkers and poets.

The rooms of the Diwan, filled with antiquities, pictures, and old furniture, are arranged to show visitors how Jordanians lived during the 20th century.