The former "Bat Galim" central bus station building is located on Bat Galim Boulevard in Haifa at the entrance to the neighborhood, near the train station of the same name.
The station in the heyday
The station operated for almost 30 years, between 1974-2003. It replaced the old Mexican station that operated at the beginning of Carmel Boulevard (Ben Gurion Boulevard today) since the establishment of the state. The station is made up of a horizontal block where the transportation and commercial activities took place and a vertical block, a high tower, where the Egged company offices were mainly located.
The platforms of the urban lines were located at the top of the station, while those of the intercity lines were located at ground level. An underground passage connected the station to the "Bat Galim" train station and thus an efficient transportation complex was created. The building had about 40 stores, two bank branches, the Dar Bank, an event hall and various kiosks. Next to the station there was also a garage that handled buses.
It was one of the largest and most sophisticated stations in Israel, until 2003, when it was closed.
Station sunset
The station was closed in 2003, following a change in the concept of the city's transportation system: basing itself on two stations - the "Hafaretz Central" in the north and the "Hof Carmel Beach Central" in the south - instead of one central station. Naturally, with the closing of the station there was a general abandonment of the businesses that were fed by the audience of the station's users. Egged also closed its offices and abandoned the tower. Nitzva bought the place, but there are no clear plans for it.
This is how a white elephant was born!
station planners
The station building, designed in style Brutalist, designed by 2 veteran and experienced architectural firms: The Architects' Office Sharon-Idelson (TA) Office of Architects Rosov-Freiberger (Haifa).
Among the architects who participated in the planning of the station, we will single out a few words for two of them: Aryeh Sharon and Shmuel Rozov.
Aryeh Sharon (1900-1984) is one of the fathers of modern Israeli architecture, along with Ze'ev Rechter and Dov Karmi. He studied at the Bauhaus school, designed many important public buildings in the country. Among the buildings he designed in Haifa we mention the Rambam Hospital building and the Syneth building at the Technion. He received the Israel Prize for Architecture. His office continues to operate under his grandson and he is responsible for planning the Ruth Rappaport Children's Hospital in the Rambam complex.
Shmuel Rozov (1900-1975) a prominent Haifa architect who began his career as a designer of Hashel company buildings in Naharim and Haifa. Among the buildings under his design throughout Haifa are the Dan Carmel Hotel, the Palace Cinema, the Rotenberg House "Hazaken Menharim" (see an article in this section) and the Amishragaz House in Hadar HaCarmel.
The brutalist style
The building is an example ofBrutalist style which was common in Israel and the world in the 50-70s. This style, which developed out of modern architecture, was characterized by the extensive use ofexposed concrete (known in French as beton brut) as the main building material and in the use of simple, basic engineering forms.
White or gray elephant?
Today, despite the charming graffiti paintings that adorn its walls, the place is deserted and dangerous to walk around.
The once magnificent and vibrant station has become a "white elephant" that turned 20 this year! Perhaps in honor of this birthday and after the dust of the election struggles has settled, the municipality of Haifa will lift the glove and open it Museum of street art and graffiti Because the works are already here.
In any case, on the birthday of a gray-white elephant, we do not bless "up to one hundred and twenty"!
Dear readers,
The articles in this section are based on open information published in sources such as Wikipedia and other websites and may include various historical inaccuracies arising from the aforementioned sources.
The Bat Galim central station building is named after Minister Ofer who committed suicide shortly before its opening.
The main use of the tower was for the management of the Electric Company (at the end of its days, Haifa rented 7 of its 12 floors). In 2003, the new main office of the Electric Company was inaugurated in the southern entrances of Haifa and Beit Agad in Puna.
It is suitable to be a high-tech center in the medical field on the basis of Rambam Hospital and Medtech investors. Also an institution for academic research and professional training in the fields of nursing and medicine and technical medicine.
Thank you for your interesting response.
If they had imposed a high property tax on abandoned buildings, the problem would have been solved a long time ago. This is your house, but this is our neighborhood!!!
thank you for your response.
I know the building, it's a shame they don't take the initiative to turn it into a dormitory for medical students who study at Rambam Hospital, or for students in general.
thank you for your response. Indeed, an interesting possibility.
We must acknowledge the lowering of morale that was created in the good city as a result of its non-renovation and the final closing of the work instead of the hospital company.
Especially from the middle class, public servants and students..
Including the staff!
My thanks to everyone involved here.
Especially for management, government and blindness.
I feel a personal obligation to the architect Dr. David Bar On for his most impressive performances in regards to his many paintings and illustrations about buildings in our city of Haifa that brought to us forgotten houses and buildings that we knew from those unforgettable days and times, but we never knew anything about the stories that stand behind all those houses and buildings which were a serious part of the life of our city Haifa!
And for all this, all the respect and many praises from me and on behalf of many residents of our city Haifa goes to my dear David Bar On!
And kudos to the Haifa newspaper for being able to bring up for all of us forgotten stories that move us all.
Thank you very much for your comment, dear Uzi!
I feel a personal obligation to the architect Dr. David Bar On for his most impressive performances in regards to his many paintings and illustrations about buildings in our city of Haifa that brought to us forgotten houses and buildings that we knew from those unforgettable days and times, but we never knew anything about the stories that stand behind all those houses and buildings which were a serious part of the life of our city Haifa!
And for all this, all the respect and many praises from me and on behalf of many residents of our city Haifa goes to my dear David Bar On!
And kudos to the Haifa newspaper for being able to bring up for all of us forgotten stories that move us all.
Great article, many thanks
Thanks so much for your response.
A white elephant...it was correct to call the building an extension of the Rambam. And even a cable car between the hospital and the building, a huge parking lot on site and another 500 beds.
Thank you for your interesting response.
There used to be life here...
Today this city looks abandoned and neglected.
sad……
thank you for your response.
My heart aches for all the nature that was destroyed to produce the materials that built it and the lack of utilization of the spaces inside it when it was abandoned. human arrogance
When Hezbollah fired at Haifa I called for him to take down the elephant. did not help
There was once a mayor in Haifa who simply committed an act of killing the city maliciously and deliberately...
Build the Grand Canyon while in the background running to the apprehensions of personal interests, and kill commerce with splendor.
He stopped the absorption of the Russian aliyah that arrived in those years and absorbed forty thousand participants in the city probably for foreign electoral considerations.
He closed the central station and the transportation lines that provided a livelihood for businesses in Hadar and the lower city.
Yes it is actually the murder of a city by its leader
The guy did a Nero Caesar act to Haifa...
You mean Mitzna and Yahav..
A greedy pair of zeroes from failed zeroes and greedy greedy people from fat pensioners. Really Eric and Bentz of Haifa Municipality. A tough competition as to which of the two has caused more damage to Haifa than laziness and multiculturalism..
thank you for your response. It is advisable to be careful with your accusations.
Let them open a Big Center there, an excellent place
thank you for your response.
An ugly building that should have been demolished a long time ago and residential houses and a business and shopping center built. It's not an elephant, it's a mammoth at the entrance to one of the city's most important neighborhoods.
The station is owned by Amot Investments from what I understand and is not funded
It's a shame that the Haifa municipality does not work to oblige the preservation of the station
A gem of brutalism and one of the symbols of Haifa. Certainly not to destroy.
Thank you for your interesting response. Beautiful or ugly - depends on who you ask.
In another remote city, called London - they took a large, empty power station by the river and turned it into the world's leading art museum, Tate.
And recently they finished turning another one, Battersea station into a huge shopping mall, offices and apartment buildings.
It seems that the developer who bought the station is waiting for it to be declared a dangerous building so he can demolish it and build another Deloch mall and apartment towers.
This way Haifa will miss one of the most beautiful brutalist buildings in the country.
It's a shame, as you said, the station should have been turned into a huge museum like the Tate and the tower into offices and apartments for visiting artists. And next to it, another apartment tower can be built in the parking lots.
This could have been an entire neighborhood of art, restaurants and youth residences "the station".
Thank you for your interesting response.
This is a really sad story. In my opinion, it should convert to apartments, but it seems like no one cares.
Thanks for your comment, interesting idea.
Why didn't Rambam University take the building to be part of the Rambam campus? The hospital has a very big shortage of space.
The outpatient clinics, the management offices, the maintenance department and much more could be moved there. It was also possible to use the parking lot for the convenience of visitors.
There are many hospitals in Israel, most of them from the time of the British, which are built on a large area and scattered among many buildings. (Tel Hashomer, Assaf Harofeh, and more)
thank you for your response. The reasons for not realizing the Rambam connection plan are important. Currently, the result is that there is no certainty about the future of the building.
Miriam wrote correct things, some creative thinking... unfortunately the fossils found in her cities
They still haven't seen fit to take action, it's just a wonderful city, good people and management is failing in every parameter
Used until 2005 and not 2003/2002...
And even later (from about 2007 the use was partial).
Since 2001, the traders have been expecting its quick closure following the rumors of a rumor that came from the city's newspapers (some even then forgot what they studied in the journalism, media and communication course at the university?!) about the station's closing soon - a closure that did not come very quickly.
It may be that one (or more) line is still partially used for Bat-Galim even nowadays (check).
The logistical and operational warehouse of the vehicles was not even closed in 2015 or 2023 (check it carefully)..
The reader is right who pointed out that a tunnel was planned (with a donation) for the hospital and everything fell through because of the municipality's mismanagement (surprise!).
This is how an article is not approved for publication - the editor must verify the data twice in addition to the reporters (who must also double check).
Pick up the phone, write emails and call Haifa elders (who are probably resting in a restaurant on one of the beaches reading this and if they solve sudoku - you have created a much more entertaining and useful game for them... press review) a kind of field work.
Thank you for your response, but Wikipedia states that the station's closing date is 2003. If you have other information, I suggest you act to correct the information on Wikipedia.
thank you for your response. This is not an investigative section. Please read the reference to readers at the end of each article in this section.
It's nice to walk through the place and see this building, the casino building, and other buildings from an old era.
It is not clear to me what the urgency is to take any old building and designate it for contemporary purposes, another restaurant? Another high-tech building for rich workers? Another residential building with rent in the sky?
Why can't you pass by these empty buildings and enjoy and remember the beautiful Haifa of old?
What is a white elephant in the eyes of one is a pleasant memory and a childhood landscape to another.
In my opinion just maintain them safe for the environment and leave them empty.
hazards
Criminals
We deserve security
And not fake nostalgia
The world is moving forward
Enough of living in the past
זה
Done and done and moving on
thank you for your response. When a building of this size is not in use, it is a hazard in every way. As it is unpleasant to see a closed garden, it is also unpleasant to see any building abandoned and crumbling - see the casino..
thank you for your response. See my response below.
thank you for your response. An unused building is dying and dying. The goal should be to preserve what deserves preservation while changing uses. Only in this way can even the most valued building continue to be a "living building".
It's not pleasant for you to see a closed garden - it's pleasant for me.
It's not pleasant for you to see an empty building - it's pleasant for me.
You want to see hustle and bustle - and I enjoy that hundreds of pigeons found a home there and did not turn it into another real estate building.
Please register in your own name and do not pretend to be a populist.
Try to write factually from the field without expressing an opinion or at least not denying the opinion of the surfers.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Those who want to see neglect and destroyed houses can go to Gaza!
Such stupidity has not been heard for a long time.
Just hallucinating how buildings are neglected so easily and not designated for other uses with little changes!
thank you for your response. The building is company property and it is not easy to interfere with property rights.
It is very true that neglecting Netsaba structures disables any structure that touches it
You really wrote beautifully and in detail, but where are the pictures from the place... let surfers see the graffiti you layered on it
This station was the gateway for the residents of the north who arrived by bus from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in the B.S.
It is not clear why Nitseva should pay a huge amount as property tax to the Haifa municipality, and not operate the complex. If the reader says that they are not paying, then it is a matter for Lahav 433.
thank you for your response. It is not his job to give answers to the interesting questions you raise.
Property tax is not paid because the building is called a dangerous building
therefore exempt from paying property tax
Answer to Bibi - even for a dangerous building you have to pay - unless the building is destroyed. As I said, someone here may have to be put in jail.
Destroy and build something new and modern.
A connection to Rambam was proposed to the hospital in a suspended and transparent tunnel as exists in many buildings in the world
For use as an extension of the hospital. But... the donors, the Ofer family and others... wanted a new building
In my humble opinion, Beit Aged Havitin can be turned into a gateway to the southern part of our city. If this is your direction - I would be happy to elaborate... Happy Holidays
Thank you for your response, see my response below.
thank you for your response. There are other suggestions in this vein.