The 1906 Algeciras Conference gave the French holding company permission to build a modern port in Casablanca. The French bombardment of Casablanca the following year destroyed much of the city, which at the time consisted of the medina, the (Jewish quarter), and an area known as Tnaker. One of the first French constructions was a clock tower in the likeness of a minaret, an early example of a style called , which would characterize much of Casablanca's architecture in the early colonial period, particularly civic and administrative buildings.