Roofing in Lebanon

Lebanon's best-known roof is the pyramidal red-tile roof of the central hall house, the archetypal 19th-century home of the country's middle class, with its triple-arched facade. Since the 20th century, most of these tiled roofs have been replaced by, or surrounded by, flat concrete roofs.

Climate and hazards

Lebanon has a Mediterranean coast with wet winters and dry summers, rising steeply to mountains that receive winter snow.

Roofing history

Pre-tile houses. Older village houses had flat earthen roofs of timber, reed mats and clay, or stone vaults and domes in the mountains; the sloped red-tile roof came later.

Ottoman era. The central hall house appeared in the second half of the 19th century, associated with Ottoman-era modernisation and a growing middle class. Its rooms are arranged around a large central hall, lit by the triple arch.

Imported tiles. These houses were roofed with red Marseille (interlocking) tiles on timber frames. The pyramidal roof is built as one block with the house and has no windows or chimney stacks; it is sometimes jokingly called the tarboush (fez) of the house.

Ceilings. Ceilings rest on wooden or metal beams. In wealthier homes the ceiling is plaster on a wooden lattice, known as baghdadi, fixed to the beams and decorated with baroque motifs.

Modern. Many tile roofs and their wooden frames were later replaced with flat concrete roofs.

Traditional and vernacular roofs

• Central hall house: stone-built, often coated in ochre tones, with a pyramidal red Marseille-tile roof.
• Flat earthen roofs: before the sloped red-tile roof, older Lebanese houses had flat roofs of timber, reed mats and clay (see flat-roof and mud-roof).
• Stone vaults and domes: in mountain areas, stone barrel vaults or domes were used instead, to stand up to snow and rain.

Roofing today

Flat reinforced concrete roofs are now the norm.

Notable roofs

• Red-tiled central hall houses in Beirut and mountain towns.

Local roofing terms

• tarboush - "fez", a nickname for the pyramidal tile roof
• baghdadi - plaster-on-lath ceiling

Sources and gaps

Detailed climate and hazard data for roofing, the dates when Marseille tiles began to be imported, the build-up and maintenance of earlier earth roofs, census data on main roofing material and information on modern practice, codes and industry were not found in published sources.