Modern building by the Nile.
Not a far cry from the ancient days.

Dwellings in Ancient Egypt are hard to know much about and depictions are rare indeed. Houses were apparently built of mudbrick, reed and some wood, so not many have lasted through time. Old buildings were mostly torn down and new ones constructed on the foundations. This goes for both cities, towns and villages and applied to rich as well as poor people. Temples were built for eternity, so they were made of granite and other kinds of stones and many of them have survived to our day.

In the Pre- and Early Dynastic Period
, simple huts or tents made of reed or animal skin seem to have filled the need for shelter. No certain house structures have come down to us, but there are some remains at a few places; nine hut ovals from Naqada I was identified at El-Hammamiya. These were ca 1 or 2 meters in diameter and in one of them were remains of a hearth. The foundations were pieces of rough sandstones set in mud, and the walls were of wattle and daub. There is also the Neolithic village of Merimda Beni Salama in the southwestern Delta. Here were small huts which showed no sign of societal hierarchy. It was a village culture, surviving on farming and the making of simple, crude tools. In the early days of settlement it seems the housing was made of pole-framed huts or windbreaks made of reed and/or animal skin. These were easily destroyed by rain or by engulfing sand. Later, and on higher ground, there were semi-subterranean houses with walls rising several feet above ground. They were small though, not over 3 meters in diameter and could only have housed one person or possibly also a few children.

Old Kingdom; Houses for Rich and Poor:
Small models found in Old Kingdom tombs apparently show the proptotype for common houses which became used all throughout Egyptian history even into modern times. They could be one- or two-storeyed, the former with three rooms and a verandah, the latter with six rooms and a loggia on the roof. A staircase went on the outside of the house up to the roof, and both varieties had a courtyard with a surrounding wall. These model houses were used in tombs as offering-tables.

There was also the simple mudbrick hut, with only one room, more a sleeping place than a real house. In front of it was a courtyard, with an awning over the entrance, to protect the woman of the house from the sun as she sat weaving or cooking in the yard. Any animals which the family might have, were kept in the courtyard, and when evening came, they too slept inside the house together with the family for protection of predators. Of course these small huts were cramped, giving little or no room for privacy, there was probably lice and all light which came in, came from the entrance.

Windows were small and set high up in the walls. In the summer heat, coolness was preferred to light and this was enough to let in a bit of light but yet to keep the heat and the bright daylight out. The windows were shielded with brightly decorated papyri blinds. The rich people even had window gratings as well as gardens with pools and flower-beds. The use of pottery or stone ware lamps with oil or animal fat, and with a wick of linen or twisted grass were also for the rich. But life followed a natural rythm - up at sunrise, to bed at sundown.

Sometimes the sleeping place of head of the household was divided off by with animal skin or woven cloth. Later in the Old Kingdom, this developed into mudbrick partitions and by and by to more comfortable houses.

The awning in front of the house developed into a verandah where pillars held up a roof of reed mats. Roofs were flat, and used to store fodder as an insulations against both heat and cold. During the hot period it was used as sleeping place. Therefore a parapet was built to assure privacy from neighbours. There could also be set up a light pavillion made of wood and so the idea of a second storey was born.

All houses were made of mudbrick, the rich as well as the poor. Wood was a costly material as trees were scarce in Egypt. It was only used for pillars, support for stairs and for ceiling beams. Stone was used for door frames, thresholds and lintels of windows. Homes were considered to be used only in this life, while tombs and temples were built for eternity.

The Middle Kingdom

Clay Model of 12th Dyn. House, showing a type of house which seemed to have prevailed for most of Egyptian history. Not from Kahun.

The Town of Kahun:
What we know about Middle Kingdom housing comes in general from el-Lahun, called Kahun in the Fayium area. It was a town built especially for officials and workers who built the royal tombs there. Senwosret II (1868 - 62) founded it for those who built his pyramid, and it lasted for more than a century and a half, occupied by those workers who built the pyramids for his successors. At this period, it was called 'Hotep Senwosret'. This is the earliest known site where a town was planned beforehand rather than being erected on an already existing site, growing organically.

The plan was rectangular with a surrounding wall. In its eastern part the well-to-do people lived, those who were in charge of the workmen and the royal tombs. Also the foremen and the scribes and some workers lived there. This was the largest part of the town, taking up nearly three quarters of the whole town. The streets in it were straight and with right-angles crossings, in a grid system. In the much smaller western part the ordinary workmen were living.

The Town of Kahun, the Rich Part
Along the northern edge of the wealthy part, there were five big houses with large, airy living spaces. One of them were detached, the others were terraced. The plan was the same for them all. The measures were 42.06 metres by 60.35 metres and they held a great number of rooms and passageways, as many as 70 in total. This was 25 times the size of a workers house. Some of them were of 169 square meter. The entrance was from the street and went through a narow passageway which was overseen by a doorkeeper from his room in the passage. Each house was divided into four sections in one single storey which comprized rooms for the women, for the master, for servants, for the kitchen. There were also granaries and offices. These various sections had their own courtyards and a direct access via a passage to the main corridor. The master´s rooms had its own court surrounded by a colonnade. In the floor was a water tank of stone which provided a cool place for bathing and relaxing. Similar smaller tanks were set in even the poor houses. The master´s bedroom had an alcove for the bed at one wall.

Some ceilings were supported by wooden columns, sometimes with capitals in palm frond shape. Thresholds and doors were also of wood and the doorway was arched. The wood was imported, often conifer.

Inside, the rooms were sometimes decorated with a dark-brown, painted band, running along ca 30 cm along the wall´s bottom part. Above this, a band of ca 12 cm height ran, painted with vertical stripes in red, white and black. The rest of the walls were limewashed in light nuances and sometimes frescoes adorned them.

The Town of Kahun, The Poor Part
There were 11 streets in the western part of the town where the workmen had their houses. These houses were smaller than the mansions in the eastern part, they measured about 95 square meters and had four rooms. These houses were one-storeyed, had a flat roof which was reached by a staircase on the outside. They also had a courtyard, which was surrounded by the rooms, and which might very well have been covered as protection for the sun. The roofs of the rooms were of wooden beams, reed and mudplaster. No separate kitchens were found in these houses and there were even grain silos found in the living rooms.

Palaces
What is often called a palace, could be any large building which the king and the royals held ceremonies, met with high dignitaries or other performances having to do with the execution of administering the reign. (This was true especially in the New Kingdom, which we will return to later.) But archaeological evidence suggest that the actual residence where the royal family lived, was probably of another character than the official buildings.

Neither the Middle Kingdom or the older periods have left any traces of any such palaces, (or Great House´s as their name was, the meaning of which was per-aa, which later became to mean the king personally and which eventually turned into the word pharaoh). It could also be that these royal living quarters have not been found yet. There is a record where the palace of Amenemhat I (1963-1934) is described as being especially elaborate. The house was decked with gold, the floors were silver, the ceilings were of lapis lazuli, the roof was of sycamore and the doors were made of copper. This is considered an exaggeration but even so, the materials used was expensive. The gold was either gold paint or gold leaf, the doors were of wood and covered with copper. The lapis lazuli was blue paint.

It is thought that the royal palaces were like a larger version of the private houses, with extra space for receptions and audiences. There were probably, aside for quarters for the king himself, parts also for his Great Wife, for the other royal spouses and for the children. Most likely the king had the opposite opinion on how his earthly home would be built. While the building of temples were made to last for eternity, the homes were only to last in this life, and could be of perishable material.

See also:
Housing in Ancient Egypt II: The New Kingdom and Late Period.
Housing in Ancient Egypt III: Amarna & Deir el-Medina.