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Description
abandoned Palace hotel
Jerusalem, april 2007

The Palace Hotel was built in 1928-29 on the initiative of the Supreme Muslim Council, during the term of Raghib Nashashibi as the British-appointed mayor of Jerusalem. Designed by Turkish architect Nahas Bey and built by one Arab and two Jewish contractors employing some 500 workers, the four-story building was completed in the record time of eleven months (the contract stipulated a deadline of 13 months, with a 1000 pound fine for each day of delay).

A mixture of Greco-Roman, Renaissance, Gothic, Romanesque, neo-Moorish and Mamluk elements was combined in this eclectic structure, which became one of the most luxurious buildings in Jerusalem. Located a short walk from the Old City, at the bottom of Agron Street (previously Mamilla Road), the building was meant to be a showpiece of Arab architecture in Jerusalem, both in appearance and in the comfort it afforded. Of the 145 rooms, 45 had private bathrooms – unheard of in the country at the time – and there were three elevators and central heating – another rare luxury. The facade was adorned with engraved verses from the Koran and the entrance lobby, topped by an octagonal skylight, reached to the entire height of the building. Decorative columns with Doric, Ionic and Corinthian capitals grace the entrance, and the lighting fixtures throughout the building were done in the art deco style.

The financial load of the hotel’s upkeep proved too much for the Supreme Muslim Council, and it leased the hotel to hotelier George Barsky, who, in turn, found that he could not compete with the nearby King David Hotel, once it opened in 1931. Shortly thereafter the Palace Hotel ended its career as a hotel; it was turned into administrative and military offices of the mandatory government. In 1937, the Royal Peel Commission, which investigated the ongoing Arab riots and recommended the partition of Palestine, convened in the hotel. Since the establishment of the State in 1948, the building has housed the Ministry of Industry and Trade.
(until 2004, now its going to be a hotel again soon).

Description
abandoned Palace hotel
Jerusalem, april 2007

The Palace Hotel was built in 1928-29 on the initiative of the Supreme Muslim Council, during the term of Raghib Nashashibi as the British-appointed mayor of Jerusalem. Designed by Turkish architect Nahas Bey and built by one Arab and two Jewish contractors employing some 500 workers, the four-story building was completed in the record time of eleven months (the contract stipulated a deadline of 13 months, with a 1000 pound fine for each day of delay).

A mixture of Greco-Roman, Renaissance, Gothic, Romanesque, neo-Moorish and Mamluk elements was combined in this eclectic structure, which became one of the most luxurious buildings in Jerusalem. Located a short walk from the Old City, at the bottom of Agron Street (previously Mamilla Road), the building was meant to be a showpiece of Arab architecture in Jerusalem, both in appearance and in the comfort it afforded. Of the 145 rooms, 45 had private bathrooms – unheard of in the country at the time – and there were three elevators and central heating – another rare luxury. The facade was adorned with engraved verses from the Koran and the entrance lobby, topped by an octagonal skylight, reached to the entire height of the building. Decorative columns with Doric, Ionic and Corinthian capitals grace the entrance, and the lighting fixtures throughout the building were done in the art deco style.

The financial load of the hotel’s upkeep proved too much for the Supreme Muslim Council, and it leased the hotel to hotelier George Barsky, who, in turn, found that he could not compete with the nearby King David Hotel, once it opened in 1931. Shortly thereafter the Palace Hotel ended its career as a hotel; it was turned into administrative and military offices of the mandatory government. In 1937, the Royal Peel Commission, which investigated the ongoing Arab riots and recommended the partition of Palestine, convened in the hotel. Since the establishment of the State in 1948, the building has housed the Ministry of Industry and Trade.
(until 2004, now its going to be a hotel again soon).