Dar Cherifa and the Dar al-Mas'udiyyin in particular have very rich decoration which has strong similarities with the stucco and wood decoration of the Ben Youssef Madrasa, indicating that they were probably built around the same time (second half of the 16th century). They continue the traditional forms of earlier Marinid houses, with the twelve pillar-courtyard arrangement, carved wooden lintels in the galleries, and carved stucco decoration with sebka motifs around or above the arches. Unlike the Fes houses, however, the galleries have only one tall level, though in some cases a second story of rooms is nonetheless integrated behind the gallery façades. The large central openings of the galleries once again allow for unobstructed view of the tall and decorated doorways leading to the surrounding rooms. In these houses these formal doorways are even more ornate and consist of lambrequin arches with muqarnas-sculpted intrados. Moroccan house architecture after the 16th century Twentieth-century scholar George Marçais, in his overview of architecture in the region, divided the architecture of Moroccan houses into three general categories: the houses of Fes, Meknes, and northern Morocco; the houses of Marrakesh and southern Morocco; and the houses of Rabat, Salé, and the western coastal cities. In Fes and Meknes, the architectural traditions established earlier since the Marinids continued. Houses were most commonly built in brick, though those with thicker walls were often built with rammed earth. More so than in other cities, the houses of Fes are tall and have narrower floor plans, with their internal patios (the wast ad-dar) having the semblance of a deep well or skylight rather than an open courtyard. In Meknès the same is true to a lesser extent. In rich houses, however, the central patios are among the most finely decorated in the country. The lower parts of the walls and pillars are usually covered in zellij tiles, the upper surfaces are covered in carved stucco (or in smooth plaster for more modest houses), and the tops of the galleries were lined with heavy wooden lintels, forming corbelled arches as in earlier Marinid and Saadian examples. The wooden elements – including doors, ceilings, and the gallery lintels – were typically made of cedar wood and were richly carved and painted with. Wealthier homes had reception rooms at ground level, opening off the patio, which were equally if not even more richly decorated, sometimes with elaborate wooden cupola ceilings. This