“Jeddah was, for centuries, the most important, largest, and richest port on the Red Sea. Today, Historic Jeddah is the last surviving urban site along the Red Sea coast that still boasts a commercial-based economy, multi-cultural environment, isolated outward-oriented houses, coral masonry construction, facades with intricate decorative woodwork, and long used methods to aid internal ventilation common before the advent of modern air-conditioning units.” 

Paige Peterson, Jeddah ~ Al-Balad ~ “The Town” [National Council on US-Arab Relations]