Sethi House 2026: Inside Peshawar's Gilded Havelis — Carved Wood, Coloured Glass and the Central Asian Dream

By the Kimi Travels Team | Updated September 2026

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Slip through a modest doorway in Peshawar's old city and the street disappears: the Sethi Mohallah holds seven surviving havelis built by the wealthy Sethi trading family in a style reminiscent of Central Asia — courtyards wrapped in carved cedarwood balconies, ceilings patterned in painted wood, coloured glass throwing gem-toned light across brick rooms, fountains at the centre of the hall — and the best-preserved of them, the Sethi House, is preserved as a museum by the province's heritage department. This is Peshawar's most surprising interior, a 19th-century merchant's dream built with profits from trade routes that ran to Central Asia. Here is how to see it in 2026.

The Sethi Family and Their Quarter

The havelis are the biography of a merchant dynasty. The Sethi family grew rich on trans-regional trade — goods and finance moving between Peshawar and the markets of Central Asia — and in the late 19th century they built a cluster of mansions in the old city, seven of which survive in the mohallah today; the houses were statements as much as homes, furnishing Peshawar's brick-and-wood vernacular with motifs their traders had admired in Bukhara, Samarkand and beyond. Walking the lanes between the seven havelis, you read the family's ambition in the facades: each successive house refining the last, each courtyard announcing a different branch of the clan. After Partition the family dispersed, and the houses passed through decline and subdivision — which makes the survival of the museum house, rescued and restored by the heritage department, all the more remarkable.

Architecture: Central Asian Style in a Peshawari Frame

The style is unmistakable once seen. Look for the carved-wood galleries and jharoka balconies, ceilings of patterned and painted wood panels, fireplaces and fountains of carved stone, brick floors polished by generations, and — the signature — coloured glass set deep in wooden screens, so that afternoon light arrives inside the rooms already red, blue and amber; the plan mixes Peshawari courtyard logic with Central Asian decorative taste, and the craftsmanship spans carpentry, tilework, mirror-work and stone. Guides delight in pointing out the engineered comforts: summer rooms sunk into cool basements, cross-ventilation channels, and storage walls that kept a trading family's goods close. Photographers should bring a fast lens — the interiors are dim by design, and the glass-filtered light is the whole point.

Sethi House as Museum: What a Visit Is Like

The museum house is the one you can enter properly. Taken over by the heritage department and run as the Sethi House Museum, it is presented as a furnished merchant's home — rooms staged with the family's world of textiles, utensils, documents and furniture, with the wood and glass doing the real exhibition work; entry is inexpensive, visits are unhurried, and caretakers happily explain which rooms served which season and ceremony. Renovation has been ongoing in phases, so expect scaffolding on the odd corner — a small price for a house this old staying alive. The visit takes about 45 minutes to an hour, longer if you let the light do its thing in the main hall, and it pairs naturally with the story-tellers' bazaar of Qissa Khwani nearby.

The Mohallah Walk: Seven Havelis in One Lane

Do not stop at the single museum house — the quarter is the exhibit. A self-guided loop of the Sethi Mohallah connects the surviving havelis' exteriors, courtyards and workshops, and the neighbourhood still lives in them: woodworkers, fabric shops and family kitchens occupy the ground floors of mansions whose upper galleries haven't changed in 130 years; respect the residents, ask before photographing people, and let an hour dissolve among the lanes. For the full architectural day, add the Mahabat Khan Mosque's minarets and the archaeological layers of Gor Khatri — both within walking distance — and you will have covered Peshawar's old city from its temples to its trading houses in one loop.

Practical Guide for 2026

Logistics are simple and rewards are high. The mohallah sits deep in the old city — reach it by rickshaw to the nearest lane and walk; mornings are quietest and best for interior light, entry fees are modest, and a local guide is genuinely useful for finding the right doors among the lanes; combine the visit with the city's other heritage markers and the Gandhara collections of the Peshawar Museum for context. Dress modestly, as everywhere in the old city. Leave with a pair of Peshawar's other craftsmanship icons — the Peshawari chappal is the wearable cousin of the woodworking you just admired — and if your itinerary continues north, our Peshawar and Khyber Pass guide takes the story to the frontier.

Want the old city's hidden interiors — havelis, serais and workshops — opened up with a knowledgeable local guide? Kimi Travels arranges secure, guided heritage walks for international visitors. Plan My Peshawar Old City Walk

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Sethi House?
The best-preserved of seven 19th-century havelis built by the Sethi trading family in Peshawar's old city, now run as a museum by the provincial heritage department and famed for carved wood and coloured-glass interiors in a Central Asian–influenced style.

Why is the architecture special?
It fuses Peshawari courtyard-house planning with Central Asian decorative taste — carved cedarwood galleries, painted wooden ceilings, fountains and signature coloured glass that turns sunlight jewel-toned indoors.

How long does a visit take?
About 45–60 minutes for the museum house, plus an unhurried hour for the wider mohallah walk among the seven surviving havelis.

Where exactly is it?
In the Sethi Mohallah of Peshawar's walled old city, within walking distance of Qissa Khwani bazaar, Mahabat Khan Mosque and Gor Khatri.

Is it worth visiting if I only have half a day in Peshawar?
Absolutely — it is the most atmospheric interior in the old city. Pair it with Gor Khatri and Qissa Khwani for the ideal short-visit loop.