Memorial photo from the graduation ceremony in the courtyard of the French School in Beirut in 1936 |  Khalil Al-Farra, Sabʿūna ʿĀman fiyy al-ʿAmal al-Handasiyy [Seventy years of Engineering work], 2007.
Luncheon at Al Qanatir Al Khayriyyah by the invitation of the Minister of Public Works, Eng. Shamsi Pasha, on the occasion of the second Arab Engineering Conference held in Cairo, featuring a number of Syrian engineers in April 1946 |  Khalil Al-Farra, Sabʿūna ʿĀman fiyy al-ʿAmal al-Handasiyy [Seventy years of Engineering work], 2007.
Architects (from left to right) Muhammad Al-Farra, Khalil Al-Farra, and MHD Samir Al-Moudarres | MHD Samir Al-Moudarres, “Shakhsiyyat al-ʿadad al-Handasiyya al-Muhandis al-Istishariyy Khalil al-Farra [the Issue’s Engineer Persona the Consultant Engineer Khalil al-Farra],” The Arab Engineer, May 1978.
President Jamal Abd al-Nasser lays the foundation stone for the first housing unit at the campus of Damascus University |  Khalil Al-Farra, Sabʿūna ʿĀman fiyy al-ʿAmal al-Handasiyy [Seventy years of Engineering work], 2007.

Khalil Al-Farra (1914-2021)

Khalil Al-Farra was born in Damascus in 1914 and died there in 2021, at the age of 107. Al-Farra studied engineering at the French School in Beirut (now Saint Joseph University), where he received an engineering degree in 1936. Upon graduating, he worked at the firm of the Lebanese Architect Antoine Tabet, where he participated in the design of multiple projects in Damascus, starting with the Orient Palace Hotel (Al-Khayam), and later Cinema Damascus, Kattan Hotel, and the Central Post Office building. He then worked for the French railway company (DHP) in Beirut.  In 1938, he returned to Damascus to work as an engineer for the municipality, where he participated in public works. 01 At the beginning of 1947, Al-Farra turned to private work and started his own firm, where he was joined by his cousin the Architect Muhamad Al-Farra after completing his studies in Egypt. In 1951 Prof. Constantin Zureiq, Head of Damascus University at the time, commissioned Al-Farra to design several new buildings for the university. He would carry out this work until the eighties. 02

In 1943, Al-Farra, along with a few local engineers, established the Syrian Engineers Association, merging several engineer associations in different Syrian cities; among them is the Association of Engineers in Damascus which was established in 1935 and used to hold its meetings in Al-Farra’s studio, and the Association of Engineers in Aleppo, established in 1933, among others. The Syrian Engineers Association was the cornerstone for the establishment of engineering unions in Syria. It organized the Third Arab Engineering Conference, held in Damascus in September of 1947. 03

Associated Projects:

  • The Syrian Refrigeration Company building in Al-Hal Market | 1948 | proposal- 2nd place
  • The Central Post Office building (in cooperation with architect Antoine Tabit) | 1948   
  • Orient Club in Damascus | 1951 | built 
  • Central Library at Damascus University | 1952 | built
  • Central Bank in Damascus (with French engineer André Laconte) | 1954 | built 
  • Supervision of the construction of the Zahra cinema (designed by the Lebanese Architect Farid Tarad) | 1958 | built 
  • Damascus Chamber of Commerce building | 1960
  • The Saudi Bank in Damascus (Syrian Commercial Bank No. 1 now) | 1960 | built 
  • Building of the Lawyers’ Association in Damascus (currently occupied by Bank of Syria and Overseas) | 1960 | built 
  • Faculty of Science at Damascus University | 1961 | built
  • The first housing unit at the campus of Damascus University | 1961 | built 
  • The Ministry of Finance in Damascus | 1962 | built 
  • Faculty of Civil Engineering at Damascus University | 1965 | built 
  • Building for the Lawyers Syndicate in Damascus | 1965 | built 
  • Endowments building (in the Hejaz Square in Damascus) | 1967 | built
  • Ambulance building and clinics at Mouwasat Hospital in Damascus | 1968 | built 
  • Faculty of Agriculture at Damascus University | 1973 | built 
  • Syrian Doctors Association building in Damascus (in cooperation with architect Bassam Al-Akhras) | 1975 | built 
  • The Children’s Hospital in Damascus | 1977 | built 
  • Maternity and Gynecology Hospital at Damascus University | 1980 | built 
  • General Administration of the Syrian Commercial Bank in Damascus building | 1980 | built 
  • Al-Othman (al-Kuwaity) Mosque in Damascus | built 
  • Badr Mosque in Damascus (in cooperation with structural engineer Nizar al-Muradi)
  • Schools of children of martyrs in Aleppo
  • Nursing School at Damascus University | built
  • Faculty of Arts and Human Sciences at Damascus University | built 

Unless mentioned otherwise, all projects were carried on in partnership with Architect Muhamad Al-Farra.

the architect in an asphalting site in 1939 |  Khalil Al-Farra, Sabʿūna ʿĀman fiyy al-ʿAmal al-Handasiyy [Seventy years of Engineering work], 2007.

01 MHD Samir Al-Moudarres, “Shakhsiyyat al-ʿadad al-Handasiyya al-Muhandis al-Istishariyy Khalil al-Farra [the Issue’s Engineer Persona the Consultant Engineer Khalil al-Farra],” The Arab Engineer, May 1978.

02 Khalil Al-Farra, Sabʿūna ʿĀman fiyy al-ʿAmal al-Handasiyy [Seventy years of Engineering work], 2007.

03 Ibid.

President Shukri AlQuatli lays the foundation stone for the Central Bank of Syria building |  Khalil Al-Farra, Sabʿūna ʿĀman fiyy al-ʿAmal al-Handasiyy [Seventy years of Engineering work], 2007.
A dinner by the invitation of the Mayor of London for all participants at the 1951 International Conference on Construction Research featuring the Architect Khalil Al-Farra | “Sūra min al-Archīv [Photo from the Archive],” The Arab Engineer, May 1978.

01 MHD Samir Al-Moudarres, “Shakhsiyyat al-ʿadad al-Handasiyya al-Muhandis al-Istishariyy Khalil al-Farra [the Issue’s Engineer Persona the Consultant Engineer Khalil al-Farra],” The Arab Engineer, May 1978.

02 Khalil Al-Farra, Sabʿūna ʿĀman fiyy al-ʿAmal al-Handasiyy [Seventy years of Engineering work], 2007.

03 Ibid.

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