The Gullabashen neighborhood, wholly financed by the AGBU, was also built on land lying just east of Pareshen. In March 1932, the U.S.-based Gullabi Gulbenkian Foundation decided to contribute to the construction of urban housing in Syria and Lebanon. It appealed to the AGBU for technical help.125 This foundation had been created to perpetuate the memory of the late Gullabi Gulbenkian, Calouste’s first cousin. Its trustees were the other members of the family; among them were Harutyun and Nerses Gulbenkian, both of whom were also AGBU officers. The Gullabi Foundation transmitted $15,000 to the central board in Paris, stipulating that the money go toward the construction of a neighborhood in Lebanon to be called Gullabashen.
Once again, the AGBU and the Nansen Office joined hands to realize this plan for a new neighborhood. In summer 1932, Burnier bought, for £1,600 or four Ottoman piasters/pic, a 32,000-pic lot lying between the Nor Sis and Trad (Nor Adana) neighborhoods. The price was quite low for the day. The AGBU bore the full cost of the transaction, paying for the lot with money from the Gullabi Gulbenkian Fund.126
The Building of Armenian Neighborhoods in Syria and Lebanon
Gullabi Gulbenkian. The construction of the Gullabashen neighborhood was financed by the U.S.-based Gullabi Gulbenkian Foundation, created in memory of this cousin of Calouste’s (Coll. Bibl. Nubar/ Paris).
Plan of Gullabashen drawn up by the architect Mardiros Altunian (Coll. Bibl. Nubar/Paris).