The respective phases of Baghdad’s development between 1921 (the Iraqi Kingdom and British Mandate) and 1958 (the Iraqi National Revolution) remain visible today. Up until the 1940s, the aesthetics of its residential architecture was eclectic—the result of a specific process of invention linked to traditional local brickwork know-how. This eclecticism overlapped with the persistence of a habitat still characterized by a central inner space. Then the revolution played the symbolic role of vector of a paradoxical identity, as it was experienced simultaneously as a break with the Western world and the integration of international modernism. Therefore the Hashemite Bagh-dad, with all its particularities, constitutes a brilliant case of elaboration of a modern capital; it was born of a successful hybridization of cultural traditions and the exchange of professional know-how, in which the figures of adaptation and appropriation were determining factors in the enrichment and renewal not only of urban forms, but also of urban practices. This urban context constitutes a heritage for the Iraqis, since it is not only result of a composite history but also the producer of a composite identity—a fruitful basis of a project for the future. The reconstruction of Baghdad should avoid new surgical operations stemming from radical political agendas, most importantly the temptation of the tabula rasa.