L21. Shams Passageway
| Superblock: | L. Al-Tawfiqiya Superblock |
| Genealogy: | Within a building property |
| Morphology: | 2 Entrances - straight perpendicular |
| Area: | 320m2 |
Shams Passageway (also known as ‘Serenity Alley’) is named after the Shams Gadida (New Sun) coffee shop, housed within the Green and Homsy buildings at 2 Souq al-Tawfiqiya St., built in 1910 by architect Garo Balian. Popular with the foreign backpacker crowd, the coffee shop is quiet, and filled with character thanks to its numerous frescos depicting Egyptian country life, rumored to have been painted in the 1920’s by an Armenian bohemian artist. Across the street from Shams Passageway is another building designed in 1925 for the Homsy family at 1 Souq al-Tawfiqiya St., by architect Marco Olivetti.
