THE PERK I LIKE BEST FROM the work I do is that over the years I have built an international network of like-minded people who enjoy taking friends on insider tours of the places where they live or work.

So the moment I had free time on a recent mission to Nepal, I called a dear friend, Rohit Ranjitkar, a Russian-trained architect and Nepal Program director for the New York-based Kathmandu Valley Preservation Trust.

He immediately proposed that I meet him in his office so we could do a late-afternoon walk around Durbar Square in Patan, one of three World Heritage-inscribed durbar (royal) squares in Kathmandu.

What Rohit did not tell me was his office was on Patan Durbar Square itself, in a marvelous four-floor traditional Newari building that he restored.

From his roof terrace, a bird?s-eye vista of Durbar Square expanded past the royal palace and temples below, taking in a generous swath of cityscape stretching all the way to the mountain range encircling Kathmandu Valley?an unforgettable view.

Difficult as it was to leave that scene, we nevertheless went downstairs to walk the square and negotiate the amazing maze of narrow, congested lanes around it where pedestrians, hawkers, bicycles and motorcycles noisily compete for space.

It began to rain, harder and harder, but we walked anyway. Looking dark and mysterious in the early-evening rain, rows of austere four-story brick façades frame both sides of the tangled lanes. The attached houses are completely shielded from public view, entered at street level through solid wooden doors, and ventilated on the upper floors by heavily carved wooden windows enclosed with panes of delicate wooden filigree instead of the usual glass to provide further privacy for occupants.

Rows of forbidding four-story attached dwellings surprisingly opened up into a series of interconnecting open-air private courtyards accessed by a network of low, narrow, unmarked passages that allow residents to cross from one end of the neighborhood to the other without setting foot on any public street, something I would have never known if I was not with a Patan insider on that wet evening.

Outdoor space

Away from street hustle and bustle, we crossed from one quiet courtyard to another, finally arriving at a small, open outdoor space in front of the blank four-story brick façade of Newa Chén, a traditional Newari house, originally built in the 1700s during the Malla Dynasty, now beautifully preserved by Rohit Ranjitkar.

Today the house is a charming bed-and-breakfast facility that includes en suite bathrooms, furnished with hand-loomed weavings and carpets, and traditional handmade Newari furniture.

A world removed from the constant human activity of the street, Newa Chén has its own small private museum on the ground floor, which adjoins reception and function rooms that open out to a meditatively still interior courtyard lush with the last flowers of late summer.

The Patan Tourism Development Organization and the National Federation of Unesco Associations of Japan assisted the Hyaamo family in converting their residence to a comfortable eight-room guest accommodation, which has proven itself successful enough to now be encouraging neighboring families to convert their homes into similar facilities.

After all, where else can a tourist have an experience as authentically Newari as living a few blocks off Patan Durbar Square, enjoying family hospitality in a historic house furnished in the traditional manner while living the traditional life?

Not far from Newa Chén, the same organizations assisted another family in converting their heritage property into an authentic Newari restaurant and boutique where we had a long dinner in a vain attempt to sit out the rain.

Locals filled the restaurant, staying to take long cups of after-dinner tea. Everyone was waiting for the rain to end.

The web of Patan lanes led us to another small square, and on this one was Rohit?s own house, entered through a plain door framed with intricately carved wood.

Newari house

Right after entering a Newari house, street noises fall away and calm takes over. Bending to enter through its low door provides a quieting, ceremonial transition into the quiet of a family home.

A typical Newari city house is usually a four-story rectangular brick structure built right at the edge of a narrow lane that opens up in the rear to a courtyard, either private or communal.

A steep ladder-like stair connects the sleeping quarters in the lower two floors to the living quarters on the third floor and finally to the cooking and service areas on the top floor. The ground floor, usually tiled, opens out to the private courtyard.

A row of wooden columns bisects the center of the rectangular space on all floors. Running parallel to the long side of the rectangle, the row of wooden columns prevents the floor above from sagging.

Low ceilings of exposed structural timber are typical. Since floor-to-ceiling height is usually only about two meters, people must bend to enter rooms through low doors, so one must reverentially ?bow when entering a room? as Newaris believe.

In the Ranjitkar home, wooden furniture is simply constructed in the traditional manner. Pieces are kept to a minimum, limited to low beds for sleeping or lounging, and side tables are low as well.

Most of the family living is done on the floor of polished antique wood, covered with typical Newari carpets, either of woven straw traditional to Nepal or especially hand-woven wool carpets in contemporary design.

What sets this house apart is the skillful fusion of traditional architecture with the modern. Exquisitely carved antique woodwork is set against simple modern surroundings. The wooden columns running the center length of rooms are particularly outstanding in the high detail of their carving and level of craftsmanship.

As counterpoint between tradition and modern technology, in the top-floor kitchen a seamless stainless-steel countertop is set with precision over craftsman cabinetry of highly polished local wood.
Deep-blue tiles handmade by Newari craftsmen complete the setting. And from its small roof deck, the rooftop view over Patan is extraordinary.

Indeed, ?extraordinary? is how to describe Rohit Ranjitkar?s updates of traditional architecture with contemporary technology expressing a contemporary Kathmandu lifestyle that might appear strongly rooted in the past but in reality looks forward to serving as an example of how heritage is totally applicable to our 21st-century lifestyles anywhere around the globe.

For information on Newa Chén Shrestha House, e-mail hyaamo@gmail.com or visit www.newachen.com

E-mail the author at pride.place@gmail.com