The building that gives the book its title, the Yacoubian Building is a physical manifestation of many of the narrative’s preoccupying themes. The architecture is an old European style, symbolizing the colonialist legacy that touches the lives of the characters. The crumbling façade represents the fading glory of downtown Cairo, which has seen its riches evaporate over the decades. Even the layout of the building represents an attempt, and failure, to create a delineation between the rich and the poor, embodying the fact that society cannot truly separate the lives of the rich and the poor.

As well as a motif for the themes of the text, the building functions as a stage. It is the setting for much of the novel’s events, providing a familiar backdrop that presents several issues endemic to the tightly packed urban society in which the characters live. The rooftop homes, for instance, are never private. There are always people listening, prying, and keen to involve themselves in other people’s business. The neighbors have a keen sense for which marriages are in trouble, who is having an affair, who is committing crimes, or who is anything less than an ideal moral being.