Casablanca's civic centre is a large open plaza framed by the Wilaya, the main post office, the courthouse, and Bank Al-Maghrib. This is Place Mohammed V — the administrative and architectural heart of the city, and where downtown's identity is most legible. A ring of early 20th-century Mauresque and Art Deco buildings surrounds the square, a planned colonial-era statement of urban design that still anchors the working day for thousands of office workers and the evening promenade for families.

The central musical fountain is the square's photographed landmark. Light-and-water displays run in the evenings during the warmer months, drawing a small crowd that gathers around the lower stone surround; the fountain itself is the most-shared image of the city on Moroccan postcards and travel social media. The buildings around it are the more rewarding architectural read — early-modern Mauresque facades blended with strong Art Deco vertical pilasters and geometric balconies, the work of French Protectorate architects in the 1920s and 1930s.

Most of the surrounding civic buildings are working administrative offices and are not open to visitors, though the main post office is publicly accessible and worth a look for its preserved Art Deco interior. Early evening is the best window — warm light on the façades, the fountain running, families on the open promenade. Mornings work for a quieter architectural walk if you want to study the buildings without crowds. A natural first stop on a downtown Art Deco loop continuing to the Sacred Heart Cathedral, Parc de la Ligue Arabe, and United Nations Square.