It has withstood economic stagnation and the rapid population growth that replaced its once-patrician neighbours with a rabble of shacks.

But it now stands lonely in a field of weeds, the house's corrugated roof and red plaster walls stark against a fast-changing cityscape of cleared slums, tower cranes and glinting high rises.

Palatial homes like Berhanu's are scattered throughout Addis Ababa, built for imperial-era courtiers and foreign business moguls, but most have slid into dire neglect as the government focuses on an aspirational building boom.

"Nowadays, most of the buildings you see are more of the European architecture," said Berhanu, a supply chain manager whose house has been in his family for seven generations.

Across the capital, older, poorer neighbourhoods -- like the one that once surrounded Berhanu's home -- have been levelled to make way for glass-and-concrete towers, lauded by the government as a symbol of the rapid economic expansion transforming one of Africa's poorest countries.

But preservationists worry that the breakneck development comes at the cost of the capital's architectural heritage.

"There are isolated efforts of protecting, saving historic buildings, but it's really very limited," said Fasil Giorghis, a well-known architect.

"It is not even a given that you should protect a historic building."

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Government and private donors have successfully restored a handful of buildings, including one of Menelik's palaces and the mansion of a former defence minister that's been converted into a museum.

But city authorities acknowledge that most of the 440 buildings that have been designated heritage sites are rundown.

"Because of our capacity as a developing country, they can't be repaired all the time," said Worku Mengesha, a spokesman for Addis Ababa's tourism office.

A decade ago, foreign embassies and Ethiopian preservationists tried to restore the Mohammadali house, once the property of a wealthy Indian businessman featuring prominent Indian and Arabian architectural elements in addition to its imperial-era Ethiopian style.

However, bureaucracy and shoddy construction scuppered the effort, Fasil said.

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