After King Abdulaziz—may God have mercy on him—recaptured the city of Riyadh and settled there, he lived in the Dukhna area in Al-Deira, where the old houses of Al Saud, built by Imam Turki, were located. These houses were in poor condition, so the King ordered their restoration so he and his family could reside in them until moving elsewhere. He later ordered the construction of a house for himself and additional houses for his family near him in Al-Murabba. At that time, Saud lived with his father in Al-Deira until he reached approximately fifteen years of age. He then moved to his own residence with his mother upon his marriage to the mother of his eldest son, Fahd—after whom he was nicknamed. She was Munira bint Saad bin Saud bin Faisal bin Turki, and this was around the year 1339 AH, eight years after King Abdulaziz entered Riyadh.
This house was about 200 meters from his father’s residence and was located near the home of Sheikh Muhammad ibn Ibrahim. Before her death, it had been inhabited by Noura bint Imam Faisal bin Turki. The house was located in an area known as Nuzhan. When the construction of Al-Murabba Palace was completed, King Abdulaziz moved there with his family and allocated a residence for each of his wives and their children.
King Abdulaziz also built a palace for his eldest son, Saud, adjacent to his own palace in Al-Murabba, separated only by a wall. It was located opposite the southern wall of his father’s palace, between the southern entrance of Al-Murabba Palace and a street 16–20 meters wide. To its east stood the well‑known Guest Palace, and to the west was the road leading to Al-Murabba from the southern side. Prince Saud lived there with his mother—may God have mercy on her—his children, and his wives. King Abdulaziz moved to Al-Murabba Palace around 1356 AH.
On the night of Tuesday, 18‑7‑1362 AH (22‑7‑1943 CE), during a summer night, Prince Saud was sleeping in a rooftop room due to the intense heat, while his mother slept on the other side of the roof. After midnight, a massive fire broke out in the storage room on the lower floor of the palace and began to spread. The fire was directly beneath the room where Prince Saud slept, as the house consisted of two floors. Prince Saud ordered the guards to evacuate his wives and children to the courtyard, then rushed to his mother’s room, carried her on his back, and descended the stairs to the lower floor. The fire continued until the next day, Wednesday, 19‑7‑1362 AH, when the house began to collapse, starting with the section beneath Saud’s room.
King Abdulaziz then ordered Prince Saud to move to the nearby Guest Palace, which was small and unable to accommodate many people. Saud later moved his wives and children to another location.
King Abdulaziz ordered the construction of the Red Palace south of the burned residence as a gift to his son Saud and as compensation for the destroyed home. The palace was built by Muhammad bin Laden along with a group of Egyptian engineers. King Abdulaziz told bin Laden during its construction: “I want you to build the most beautiful palace for my son Saud.”
King Saud later granted the Red Palace to the Council of Ministers so that Crown Prince Faisal could also have an office there to receive visitors, as he used to receive guests in his home after returning from Hijaz. As for King Saud’s palace that burned in Al-Murabba, its site became the location of the first secondary school in Riyadh (Al‑Yamamah Secondary School), which remained until it was incorporated into the King Abdulaziz Historical Center project.