Bayt Beirut (; literally "the house of Beirut") is a project of a museum and urban cultural center that is meant to portray the history of Beirut, with a particular focus on the Lebanese civil war. This project is located in the restored Barakat building, also known as the "Yellow house", a historic landmark designed by Youssef Aftimus. History The Barakat house, commissioned by Nicholas Barakat and his wife Victoria, was designed and built in 1924 by Lebanese architect Youssef Aftimus, the architect who designed Beirut's city hall. In 1932 two more stories were added by architect Fouad Kozah, giving the building its current form. Middle-class families lived in the building's eight spacious apartments until the outbreak of the Lebanese civil war, when Christian militiamen moved in. The Barakat building became a vantage point for snipers overlooking a combat zone; it ensured the control of the Sodeco crossroad because of its airy architecture and due to its location on the demarcation line that separated the warring factions. The civil war devastated the Barakat building and neglect took its toll on the structure, which became the scene of repetitive acts of vandalism; it was sentenced for demolition in 1997 when the owners decided to sell the property. It was saved by Lebanese heritage activists, particularly architect Mona Hallak who first investigated the house in 1994 during one of her visits with the "Association pour la Protection des Sites et Anciennes Demeures au Liban" (APSAD), an independent organisation for the protection of historic monuments and buildings. Activists had articles about the structure published in the press almost on a daily basis, wrote petitions, and organized rallies in front of the building. Protestations finally led to the suspension of the decision to destroy the building. In 2003 the municipality of Beirut issued a decree of expropriation for public interest. The decree stated that the Barakat building will be restored to accommodate a memory museum and a cultural center (which will later be known as "Beit Beirut") with objects tracing the 7000-year history of the city. The decree also provisions the construction of a modern annex to the building on the empty lot around it, which will house offices of the municipality's urban planning department as well as an underground parking lot. The French government provided technical assistance to the Beirut municipality but the cultural specialists who were supposed to visit and counsel on