British Envoy Gives Up Posh Beirut Home
Britain’s ambassador to Lebanon said today that he has given up his elegant 70-year-old residence in mostly Muslim West Beirut and that it will become a Muslim orphanage.
“We decided we no longer had a use for such a large property, so we have given up the lease,” Ambassador John Grey said. “We are sorry, but diplomatic life is moving away from that quarter of West Beirut.”
Grey, like most other Western diplomats, now lives and works mainly in Christian East Beirut. However, he said he had rented an apartment in West Beirut for use when needed.
The Islamic Orphanage has already erected its black-and-gold sign over the gate of the three-story building, which has stained-glass windows, marble floors and a large garden.
British Maj. Gen. Edward Spears first occupied the residence in 1943 as First Minister to the new republics of Syria and Lebanon.
Home to British ambassadors since then, the residence came under rocket attack last April following the U.S. air raid on Libya by British-based warplanes.
The murders of two kidnaped Britons and one American on the same day sparked an exodus of foreigners from West Beirut.
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