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Beit Aghion in West Jerusalem

Monday, 14 September 2020 - 11:00 am (CET/MEZ) Berlin | Author/Destination: Levant / Levante
Category/Kategorie: General, Union for the Mediterranean Reading Time:  4 minutes

🔊 Listen to this Post Beit Aghion, also known as Beit Rosh HaMemshala (House of the Prime Minister) is the official residence of the Prime Minister of Israel. It is located at 9 Smolenskin Street, on the street corner of Balfour Street in the upscale West Jerusalem neighborhood of Rehavia, situated between the city center and the Talbiya neighborhood. The private residence of Netanyahu is located in Caesarea, north of the ancient city of Caesarea Palaestinae, where the official residence of the Roman praeses Pontius Pilate was located (Pilate stone).

The building was built for the Jewish–Greek merchant Edward Aghion who was an affluent resident of Alexandria, Egypt. It was designed by the Jewish-German architect Richard Kauffmann and was built between 1936–1938. In 1941, Peter II, King of Yugoslavia resided in the house. During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War it served as a hospital for the Irgun “fighters”.

In 1952, the Israeli government purchased the house for the purpose of turning it to an official residence for the Foreign Minister. In 1974, the Israeli Government decided to transfer the official residence of the Prime Minister from Beit Julius Jacobs, which served as the official residence of the Israeli Prime Minister between 1950–1974, to Beit Aghion. During the 1990s, a wall was erected around the house for security reasons and a segment of Balfour Street was closed to traffic.

The building is composed of several square blocks connected to one another and in the center of the building there is a stairway, decorated with a row of windows in the front. The front of the building also includes a section molded in a circular way, and in a boat-like style typical of the international style. The building is coated with Jerusalem stone. The building also consists of an inner courtyard (patio)—an element that differs from the common international style, which the building-style is made of, however, is commonly found in an Islamic-styled buildings. The patio was most probably added originally due to the Aghion family’s request.

Read more on Times of Israel, 3 August 2020: Plan for Israeli-style White House going nowhere, wasting millions – comptroller, DW, 6 August 2020: What’s behind Israel’s growing protests?, DW, 16 August 2020: Israel: Arrests in Jerusalem as protests against Benjamin Netanyahu continue, Haaretz, 23 August 2020: 30 Arrested at 10,000-strong Protest Against Netanyahu in Jerusalem, Haaretz, 5 September 2020: Jerusalem Police Clash With anti-Netanyahu Demonstrators as Protest Enters 11th Week, Times of Israel, 6 September 2020: 12 arrested, 2 cops hurt at protest outside Netanyahu’s Jerusalem home and Wikipedia Beit Aghion (Smart Traveler App by U.S. Department of State - Weather report by weather.com - Global Passport Power Rank - Travel Risk Map - Democracy Index - GDP according to IMF, UN, and World Bank - Global Competitiveness Report - Corruption Perceptions Index - Press Freedom Index - World Justice Project - Rule of Law Index - UN Human Development Index - Global Peace Index - Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index). Photos by Wikimedia Commons. If you have a suggestion, critique, review or comment to this blog entry, we are looking forward to receive your e-mail at comment@wingsch.net. Please name the headline of the blog post to which your e-mail refers to in the subject line.