And this time — the construction of the YMCA building at the end of the 20s century.
YMCA is one of the most beautiful buildings in Jerusalem. It is located at 26 King David Street.
YMCA, the English acronym for the Young Christian Association, was founded in London by a group of Christian pastors.
In January 1878, the Jerusalem branch of the YMCA was founded, which undertook to operate according to the International YMCA constitution. Its aim was to bring closer and foster good relations between the Christians, Muslims, and Jews living in Jerusalem through cultural and sports activities.
Initially, the organization operated in a small shop on Jaffa Street. At the beginning of the First World War, the organization’s activities ceased. In 1917, it resumed its operations to provide sports and cultural activities to the British soldiers who captured Jerusalem from the Ottoman army.
In 1920, an American millionaire visited Jerusalem and promised to donate the money needed to build a permanent home for the organization.
Apparently, the custom of issuing building permits very slowly had already started at the beginning of the last century. So, after a delay of 6 years, the construction of the building began in 1926.
In this rare photo from the late 1920s, you can see the construction in its early stages.
In the background, you can see the famous King David Hotel which was being built at the same time. It hosted and still hosts world leaders and key figures in the Zionist revival of Israel.
The YMCA building was designed by the architect Arthur Harmon, who also designed the Empire State Building in New York.
In April 1933, the building, which is considered the most beautiful YMCA office in the world, was inaugurated by General Allenby, the commander of the British army who freed Jerusalem from the Turkish army.
Some Jewish artists from the Bezalel School of Design, about whom I have written extensively in the past, were among those who erected the building.
The YMCA building was built in three parts. Its design combines Christian, Jewish, and Muslim religious motifs.
The building comprises the Three Arches Hotel, a concert and performance hall, a swimming pool, a gym, a stadium, and a football field, which would later be the home field of the Jerusalem Beitar and Hapoel football teams.
The building’s magnificent tower is topped by a dome supported by stylish columns and 36 iron bells, which produce different sounds, with the largest one weighing 1.5 tons, and the smallest 8 kg.
In front of the magnificent building, there is the King David Hotel located on the other side of King David Street, and an entrance plaza full of grandeur with a well-kept garden with twelve cypresses, symbolizing the 12 tribes of Israel, the 12 apostles of Christianity, and the 12 imams of Islam.
The building stands to this day in Gaon and is a central point near the basin of the Old City. The golden yellow stones that decorate it represent the rise of the city and the country in modern times — English generals on horseback, Christian priests, Jewish craftsmen, Muslim clerics, guerilla fighters who blew up the nearby hotel, football players, spectators watching matches from cypress trees, concerts in the magnificent halls, tennis courts that were used for competitions, and luxury apartments on the field where the British Army team once played against the Mandate Police team.
This is our Jerusalem. If the stones could speak, we would hear the flapping of the wings of history and the sound of the tower bells, the hooves of Allenby’s horse, the hammers of the craftsmen of Bezalel who built one of the most magnificent and unique buildings in the city, and the sounds of a folk band from the 1970s with cowboy hats, police clothes, and feathers, playing disco music that was modern in those times … the ideal image for YMCA.
Shabbat of peace to the far and near Jerusalem
Unknown photographer.
