BEIRUT: The Culture Ministry is seeking legal action against the owners of a 19th-century house that was partially demolished last weekend, despite lying within Beirut’s designated conservation area.

The impressive mansion house, labeled the “Akar palace” by the Save Beirut Heritage conservation group, is Plot 1824, in Zoqaq al-Blat, not far from the Murr tower in central Beirut, and lies just off the corner of Spears Street and Abdel-Qader Street.

Save Beirut Heritage had monitored illegal internal demolition within the property over recent months, including ceilings and Venetian tiles being removed, and marble columns being sold, according to the campaign group.

The former culture minister, Salim Warde, denied repeated requests by the owners, descendants of the original Akar family who built the property, for a demolition permit.

But last weekend the level of demolition increased, with walls to the rear of the property being torn down. Although the façade of the building still stands intact and the house looks relatively undamaged from the main street, from behind the house the extensive damage is clear.

Save Beirut Heritage feels that this was a deliberate move “to mask their vandalism from the street for fear of legal repercussions.”

The organization then alerted current Culture Minister Gaby Layyoun to the demolition, who had also received calls from concerned neighbors, and the ministry has placed a 24-hour police patrol outside the building, in order to prevent further destruction.

Michel De Chadarevian, Layyoun’s adviser, told The Daily Star Friday that the owners were driven by “commercial gains” and had no respect for the architectural integrity of the building.

The ministry is due to meet with legal advisers early next week in order to move ahead with pressing charges on the owners, as the demolition of the interiors was itself illegal, due to the building’s position in the conservation area.

He said the ministry was cooperating with heritage activists to stop further such actions, which he said have been commonplace.

“Until now a lot of buildings and palaces have been demolished: people probably want to erase the memory of Lebanon, but we are against all these actions,” De Chadarevian added.

De Chadarevian also said the ministry was supportive of a campaign, spearheaded by heritage activists, for government to introduce a completely new conservation system, whereby not only certain parts of central Beirut – except the Solidere district – are listed as conservation sites, but any building which meets certain criteria.

Currently, he said, only 500 buildings are listed in the register of Lebanese heritage, but the ministry is keen for this list to be expanded.

Giorgio Tarraf, of Save Beirut Heritage, is hopeful that the ministry will press charges against the owners of the Akar palace.

“If we allow this to go unpunished people will keep doing it,” he said.

“If there’s no proper punishment what is going to dissuade people from ignoring the conservation list?”

Several heritage activists, including Raya Daouk, the president of APSAD, another conservation group, met with Prime Minister Najib Mikati Thursday.

A spokesperson for the prime minister’s office told The Daily Star that the meeting, also attended by Layyoun, was very positive. The activists discussed the key issues, and both Mikati and Layyoun were eager to cooperate fully with them in the future to conserve heritage in the capital, the spokesperson added.

Although Tarraf was not in the meeting, he was told that Mikati was “irate” when he learned of the destruction to the 19th century mansion.

Tarraf is encouraged by the recent support of the government.

“I think we have made people more aware of the issues and that has in turn made the government more aware and they realize they can’t ignore the issue any more,” he said.

De Chadarevian said the Culture Ministry believes it is vital to preserve the country’s heritage as, “one who doesn’t have a memory of the past cannot look to the future.”

The Daily Star was unable to reach the owners of the property for comment.