Mashhad is the city of Imam Reza where most tourists especially Muslim tourists visit to pay their regards to him. Because of Imam Reza’s holy shrine, Mashhad is one of the greatest religious attractions in Iran. But it is good to remind you that Mashhad has a lot more attraction sites that are ignored, unfortunately. But here we are to introduce you, one of the other top attractions of Mashhad, Darougheh Historical House.
This beautiful house is located a few blocks away from Imam Reza Shrine. It belongs to the late Qajar Dynasty (1789 to 1925). Darougheh Historical House is kind of a semi-traditional house. That’s because of the modernity impacts from Russia that little by little had been finding their way in Iran in the late Qajar era. In other words, this house is one of the last traditional houses built in Iran which is a combination of Iranian-Russian architecture.
Darougheh Historical House’s History
Darougheh is the Iranian word for Sheriff. And as its name declares the house belonged to Mashhad’s Sheriff, Yousef Khan Herati. He started building the house during the last year of Qajars’ reign. Yousef Khan Herati was the last sheriff of Mashhad and then the first head of the Nazmiye, a newly law enforcement force, after Persian Constitutional Revolution.
It has been a personal house since then to almost 30 years ago. Then it was used as a place for religious gatherings. After that, it went through restorations and is recorded as the National Heritage of Iran. Finally, the house won the price of the best-kept historical house from UNESCO in 2016.
Darougheh Historical House occupies one thousand and one hundred sq. meters space in a land of six hundred and ten sq. meters. As expected the sheriff’s house should be one of a kind with special qualities like having the first private bathroom, Bakery, and Sardaab. Those times there were only public bathrooms. Sardaab is a basement with a water pool or a well to save water, food and to cool down in the summertime. In addition, there were two other traditional houses from the same time. They were all connected. And together, they created a complex.
Architecture OF The Darougheh Historical House
In this semi-Iranian traditional house, the shaped-brick walls, seven-colored tiles, wood carvings under the roofs, and detailed stuccos in the yard are the souvenirs from Russian architecture. The structure of the balcony with stairways on two sides, “Orosi”s (Sash windows), and the decorations are Iranian traditional designs you can see here. The walls of the yards are of different-shaped bricks, with stuccos statues like a human head, lion head, and angles with wings.
The entrance is on the south side. Like most Iranian traditional houses the door of the house opens into a yard. A yard with a pool and small green spaces. The first floor is 75 cms lower than the yard’s surface. Darougheh Historical House has a three-sided Structure. It means the house is like a U and the yard is in the middle. The building is not a straight north-to-south building but to make it easier to describe; One side faces the north, one faces the south, and the other faces the east. They are all connected from the inside. The house is a two-floor on all sides.
Seasonal Parts
In traditional Iranian architecture normally we have a winter side building and a summer side. The winter side is located where gets the most sunlight during the cold months of the year. And the summer side is located where receives the least sunlight in the hot months. The interesting thing about This house is that each side has a summer part and a winter part.
Winter rooms have fireplaces. And again to make it warmer in cold seasons they managed to build the kitchen beneath the winter part. In ancient Persian, they say “Matbakh” to Kitchen.
Summer rooms have “Badgir”s. Badgir is a wind tower or ventilation shaft to cool the hot air. And also the pool and Sardab are the traditional architectures to keep it cool in hot summers.
Balconies
Darougheh Historical House has three balconies. Two small ones on one side. And a big balcony on the other side with four big columns reaching to the ground. Two beautiful stairways on the two sides of the balcony, with delicate iron fences.
Location And The Final Words
Iran, Razavi Khorasan, Mashhad, Darougheh Historical House. It is only 1 kilometer away from Imam Reza’s Holy Shrine. If your hotel is around the shrine it will be nice and easy to take a walk. The closest metro station to Darougheh Historical House is the 17-Shahrivar metro station which is almost 1.5 km away.
You can pay a visit from 8 am to 2 pm, and again from 4 pm to 7 pm, every day except for holidays and Fridays. There is a traditional tea house for you to grab something and to socialize maybe. Moreover, they have a photography room where you can wear traditional outfits to take some photos.
For sure the first top attractions close to Darougheh House that you need to visit is Imam Reza Shrine. It looks like a castle and you will be amazed by what you see. The next close attraction is the Tavakoli Historical House. It is located 600 meters away. There are also many great cafés, restaurants, and shops around this place, you can spend time enjoying the environment, Mashhad’s nice people, and yourself.
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