The house is located in the Mouassine district, which was the subject of significant development in the Saadian period (16th and early 17th century). In the 1560s Sultan Moulay Abdallah al-Ghalib ordered the relocation of the Jewish community, which until then had occupied this district, to a new Mellah district next to the Kasbah of the city.[6][7] This liberated new land which was subsequently redeveloped into new "model" neighbourhoods centered around the newly constructed Mouassine Mosque and religious complex (as well as the Bab Doukkala Mosque complex further west).[7][6] This enticed a relatively large number of bourgeois or aristocratic families to build their residences here,[7]:420–421 resulting in a concentration of structures dating from the Saadian period in this area. Examples of such Saadian-era houses include the Dar Cherifa (formerly Dar Ijimi), the Dar al-Mas'udiyyin, and the Dar al-Masluhiyyin (known also as Ksour Agafay).[8] (Some of these houses today have been converted into cafés, restaurants, and hotels.[8][9])