“Let the quill write about event and the year, blessed be this abode for you,” reads Persian text on a commemorative plaque put up on the main gate of a modest house in the congested Ganj area of Walled City. Built in 1890, this house once belonged to the family of Yahya Khan, the third president of Pakistan. Brick by brick, buildings in part of Peshawar have been demolished. A few of those monumental structures that were once the pride of this city, still stand. Time has left its mark on the Yahya family house, but the residual grandeur of the rich architecture is still awe-inspiring. The house was owned by Yahya’s grandfather Ghulam Haider Khan. Later Rahat Ali Khan, an uncle of Yahya, inherited it from his father. Saadat Ali Khan, Yahya Khan’s father, got another house in the same lane that has already been razed to the ground.

Read More: Crumbling Heritage in Walled City