More of once upon a time in Jerusalem –
And this time – the Eden Hotel on Hillel Street, 1950.
The Eden Hotel was established by Rosa and Abraham Lifshitz according to the plan of the architect Yohanan Ratner and opened to the public on April 10, 1938 during the British Mandate, on today’s Hillel Street and the corner of H’histadrut Street.
In an article published in the Haboker newspaper on April 12, 1938, it was written about the “opening ceremony of the magnificent Jewish hotel in Hebrew Jerusalem” in which Yitzhak Ben Zvi, Deputy Mayor Oster, Judge Valero, Henrietta Sold, members of the National Committee and the City Council participated.
It was also written by the reporter who was amazed by the magnificent building-
“The magnificent building that cost over 11,000 Israeli lira includes a large and spacious waiting hall that is tastefully furnished, from where you go to two large and magnificent halls of the dining hall that can connect to one and are suitable for holding banquets, parties and meetings.
all rooms are equipped with telephones and electric reading devices using the light bell method and on the side of most of the rooms there are Bathrooms”.
The hotel was designed in the international architectural style influenced by the German Bauhaus style, with touches adapted to the local style-
Arches in the front, a flat roof, square windows and balconies – the height of the grandeur of those days.
The entrance to the 40-room hotel was established from Hillel Street with three magnificent arches facing H’histadrut Street and the entrance arch from Hillel Street under a concrete facade borrowed from the Bauhaus style.
Its high topographical location, from which Hillel Street descends in a sharp descent towards the Mamilla neighborhood and the Old City, opened up to hotel guests an ancient view of the Old City walls.
Due to the proximity of the hotel to the building of the national institutions at the end of Keren Kemayet Street, the hotel served as the ultimate meeting place for the Zionist businessmen of the developing Jewish settlement in the Land of Israel.
Meetings with journalists from Israel and abroad, an interview with the young Jewish conductor Leonard Bernstein on the balcony of the luxury hotel overlooking the old city, and interviews with the senior members of the Jewish community of that time.
With the establishment of the State of Israel, the hotel benefited from its proximity to Beit Fromin – the old Knesset building, which we talked about in detail in the past.
Members of the Knesset who lived outside the city, journalists and other dignitaries of the young country used to stay at the prestigious and intimate hotel.
David Ben-Gurion, the prime minister at the time, lived in the hotel for a year and a half, a short walking distance from the old Knesset, something that aroused great interest among the children of Jerusalem who would gather and wait for him to leave the hotel in order to win an autograph, generations before the age of selfies and gossip writers and absorb some stardust from the VIP list.
At the end of August 1966, the Sixth Knesset moved to its new residence in Givat Ram and the glow of the hotel dimmed.
In the mid-1970s, the hotel was sold to the Bank of Israel, which operated its offices there, and then the absorption office operated there.
In 1997, the hotel was sold to private entrepreneurs, and since then the building has stood closed like an irreplaceable stone and the glory of the magnificent hotel has passed.
As part of the city’s renewal and the many transformations it has undergone in recent years, the luxurious hotel is coming back to life these days.
The iconic building will be renovated into a luxurious and modern residential structure as the first flagship project in the city by the developer Yossi Avrahami with the addition of new floors with balconies facing the ancient view of the old city, and an internal atrium open to the sky will welcome the new residents.
The historic and prestigious rooms of the past, with the telephone and the light bells, will be replaced by new and luxurious apartments with balconies, an indoor swimming pool, a gym and treatment rooms, and the old building rich in history will be transformed into a modern and prestigious building, while preserving the old facade that will elegantly combine old aristocracy with innovative and updated luxury.
It is very exciting to see how buildings whose walls are steeped in the history of the renewal of the Jewish-Zionist settlement in the Land of Israel rise up before our eyes in the heart of our beloved and so special city.
And a personally angel – I am grateful for the privilege that fell to me to accompany the revival of the building in recent years, to be in charge of its future resettlement and to make sure that the new tenants from Israel and abroad will know and cherish the rich history of the building that is intertwined with the uprising of the Jewish people in the Land of Israel, and appreciate the soul and history that is imbued in the old walls.
Even after 3,000 years, the city lives, breathes and develops all the time.
Shabbat of peace to the far and near from Jerusalem.
Photo by Fritz Cohen.
Dedicated to the memory of the late Louise Cohen, a former resident of Jerusalem who was a veteran reader of the column who looked forward to, and responded every week.
R.I.P.
