The first house to be built in Rehavia neighborhood, Beit Eliezer and Thelma Yelin, 1924,
More of once upon a time in Jerusalem.
Eliezer and Thelma Yelin House is the first building built in the Rehavia neighborhood.
The paved road in the picture to the left of the building is Ramban Street and the path in front of the house is today’s Alcharizi Street.
The house was designed and built by the architect Eliezer Yelin and his partner Wilhelm Hecker, and in 1924 its construction was completed.
Eliezer Yelin was born in Jerusalem and was the son of the teacher and researcher David Yelin and his wife Ita.
In 1907 he went to study architecture in Germany and there he met and befriended the German Jewish architect Wilhelm Hecker.
Both of them served together in the First World War in the Ottoman Engineering Corps, during which they built roads, highways, railways, and bridges together.
In 1920, Yelin and Hecker founded an architecture office in Jerusalem and became the first planners and builders of the Rehavia neighborhood, and other houses in Jerusalem such as the David Yelin College, the Ohel Yitzchak Synagogue in Kiryat Moshe, Beit Gad Fromkin at the corner of Ramban and Ibn Ezra – today the Netzach Israel Synagogue, and other buildings in the city.
In 1921, Eliezer married Thelma, born in England, who came from a distinct Zionist family and was a talented cellist with a world reputation.
The construction of the house was completed as mentioned in 1924 and soon became a social and artistic center of the fattening and sloughing of Jerusalem during the British Mandate days, the high ceiling-exclusive living room with the beautiful arched patio facing the big outdoor garden entertained the top celebrity crowd of the time, long before the paparazzi photographers and gossip talk shows.
Professors from the Hebrew University alongside senior British government officials, diplomats and world-renowned leading musicians gathered in the living room of Eliezer and Thelma’s home while concerts by chamber ensembles from around the world were played in the living room.
But never resilience.
In 1936, the Yelin family was forced to sell the house due to financial difficulties encountered by the architecture firm they managed together with Wilhelm Hecker.
In 1950, a friend of the Yelin couple, Dr. Konikov and his wife Carmel, purchased the house, taking care to preserve the house, the windows, the doors, and the interior of the building.
Eliezer Yelin served as a member of the Israeli Committee of Architects, was a member of the Executive Committee of the Association for Jerusalem, and a member of the Rehavia Neighborhood Committee.
Eliezer Yelin died unexpectedly in 1945, at the age of 57.
The house was preserved for decades, and in 2015 the house was purchased by a buyer who appreciate the private house’s noble history and charm.
Recently, request was submitted to the preservation department to add new floors which gives great respect to the first iconic building in its area, plus new floors in elite architecture that preserve the spirit and soul worthy of the first building built in Rehavia and whose walls are steeped in the history of the nobility of the reviving Jewish settlement in Jerusalem alongside an elite, modern and understated construction that will turn the new house into a unique architectural icon that combines the glory of old and the new by the hand of a craftsman.
This is our Jerusalem.
The first building in the Rehavia neighborhood, Ramban Street was a dirt road, rough hills around what would later become the aristocracy and elite neighborhood of the city,
A cello concerto with British officials in ties, alongside Jewish professors from the Hebrew University, and top worldwide musicians.
The picture brings thoughts about what have we accomplished in 100 years and 76 years of independence, and how the area could have looked like if it was still settled by the farmers and the tribes of our cousins.
Vision and history in the making, Spectacular buildings as a reminder of the delicate balance between the glorious past alongside the blessed renewal of the most beautiful city in the world.
After long years of work and a manicured planning process, the iconic house will turn shortly into one of Jerusalem’s new masterpieces.
Shabbat Shalom to the far and near from Jerusalem,
May all the captives return to their home soon, healthy and safe, and may we see Shalom al Israel.
