Wooden Ceilings. During the 19th century a number of large mansions were built in Jerusalem by wealthy Arab families, mainly in the Ethiopian, Musrara and Sheikh Jarrah neighborhoods. The wooden ceilings in some of these mansions are decorated with lavishly carved and painted decorations, influenced by similar Turkish ceilings and most are designed with a recessed area in the centre, either octagonal, rectangular or square, which is surrounded with floral and geometric patterns. The most dominant decorations are stars and crescents, rosettes, shells and flowers. The only mansion open to the public with this type of wooden ceiling, is the former Husseini Mansion, built in 1876, which is The American Colony Hotel, one of the city’s most prestigious hotels.