The Story of El Fenn – A look back at the last 20 years

El Fenn started life in 2004 with 6 bedrooms. Today we have 42. So just how did we do it? We take a look back at our – ever expanding – history.

2002-2004 

No 2 Ben Moulay Abedellah Ben Hezzian was the perfect holiday home. Or so thought our original co-owners: gallerist Vanessa Branson and Barclays’ former vice-chairman of corporate affairs Howell James.  But all that changed when they came to sign the sale contract. Unbeknownst to them, house number 2 was in fact also being sold with numbers 3, 4, 5 & 6 because of the way title deeds were structured.  ‘We took a deep breath and signed,’ says Howell. 

It was July 25th 2002 and within six months Howell and Vanessa had employed general manager Frederic Scholl and architect Amine Kabbaj to oversee the reconstruction of houses number 2 – a large part-ruined building – and No 3 & 4 – which were in fact two small ‘dourias’ or flats. Parts of the main house had subsided, the stairs to the rooftop were crumbling and vines had overtaken the colonnade. But everyone involved in the project had one core goal: restore the building to its former glory with its heritage reinstated. Original architectural elements including carved plaster and cedar door frames would be removed, renovated and reinstalled. Room divisions and shapes would be restored to echo the traditional footprint and old corridors reopened.    

Work started in April 2003 and for the next eleven months, a team of local builders and artisans worked with Frederic and his wife, freelance designer Viviana Gonzales, to renovate the space from the ground up. Meanwhile, the design ethos that El Fenn retains today took shape. Bold colour and the exquisite craftsmanship of Morocco such as tadelakt plaster and zeliige tiling were blended with mid-century furniture and contemporary art. El Fenn opened in March 2004 with five rooms centred on our main courtyard, plus a mezzanine suite off the main red entrance corridor.

2005

A year later, work started to integrate the two small riads standing at no 5 and 6 Ben Moulay Abedellah Ben Hezzian into the hotel. One courtyard was sacrificed to create what’s now our spa swimming pool. Three bedrooms were carved out in the other property, and a new bedroom created overlooking the spa pool. El Fenn now had 10 rooms. Soon though, we would grow again.

2006 

When two of El Fenn’s neighbours decided they’d like to sell their properties, Howell and Vanessa decided to dive in. The next phase of El Fenn’s next expansion was relatively simple: a doorway was opened to the orange and lemon courtyard on the right of our main entrance corridor to link to a large old riad where five rooms and suites were created.. But how to assimilate a network of buildings to the other side of El Fenn?

2007

What today houses the El Fenn boutique, swimming pool and everything above it was once a mass of properties including a huge mattress workshop and tiny modern houses. The mattress shop was transformed into a bar, restaurant and performance space that was linked to the main courtyard. A four-bedroom house a couple of minutes walk from the hotel was also refurbished as an annex. 

But the rest of the site was a hotpotch of old and new. ‘We wanted to retain all we could of the original buildings and reconfigure them to create something that matched the generous spaces and grandeur of the rest of El Fenn,’ explains Howell. ‘Building new elements amid so much that was old was a responsibility we took very seriously.’ 

Two small modern houses were demolished to create our ground floor swimming pool and six new rooms and suites carved out above the new restaurant space. Once again, original elements were preserved and whole refurbishment was linked together by the creation of a new first-floor colonnade and sweeping marble staircase. 

We continued growing thanks to the acquisition of a small douria that was transformed into a two-bedroom suite, and the purchase of a neighbouring house to create a three-bedroom family suite. Internally, art, textiles and even wall colours were – and still are – in constant evolution, the roof terrace was redesigned and planting developed. In 2012, El Fenn underwent a two-year refurbishment of rooms and public spaces to celebrate our tenth anniversary and our shop expanded into the restaurant which became a shopping, as well as eating, venue. Bedrooms were also reconfigured and a roof top kitchen was built. 

Then in 2017, the custodianship of El Fenn also evolved as artist and designer Madeline Weinrib and former ABC Carpet & Home president Graham Head became co-owners of the hotel. Long-time visitors to El Fenn, with close business links to the artisanal community here in Morocco, their ambition was to evolve El Fenn into the next stage of its life alongside Howell and Vanessa. 

2020 

The next phase of El Fenn’s expansion started after we acquired a large property that intersected the space between our main courtyard and the ground floor swimming pool. It was a modern house that did not echo the integrity of El Fenn’s original buildings so we decided to take the new property back down to the foundations and once again create a building that paid homage to traditional architecture. Working with architect Sylvain Raguenau of Aire au Carre, our Colonnade bar, terrace and private dining room were created on the ground floor, as well as a new purpose-built kitchen. The boutique was also expanded and a dramatic spiral staircase to the rooftop built. 

Five new rooms and suites, plus a new section of colonnade, were created on the first floor and a large pool and terrace were built on the new section of roof terrace. The rest of the space was reworked too with the opening up of new areas, the creation of a cocktail bar and restaurant redesign.

By now, El Fenn had more than 30 bedrooms. But there was one more project we dreamed of completing. 

2022  

We’d long dreamed of linking the annex we’d bought back in 2007 to the rest of El Fenn and knew we had to grasp the opportunity when we got the chance to buy the building that would connect the two. The fragile wood and earth construction of the house meant rebuilding – once again making sure that the ‘new’ absolutely honoured the spirit of the ‘old’. With our new general manager Karim Irrgang now overseeing El Fenn, we opened 10 new rooms and suites in 2022 along with two private dining terraces and an open-air rooftop kitchen. 

Today El Fenn spans 13 interconnected buildings over a two-acre site. So what next? Well nothing ever stands still for too long and as ever we’re full of ideas. Just watch this space.