The memorial shield for the City Hall - "Connections of Haifa" project
By: architect Yossi Kuri, Tal Kizman and Nega Karmi, with the kind help of Yigal Greiber, the association for the history of Haifa.
- First article in the series -
Haifa is one of the most fascinating and complex cities in Israel thanks to its history, culture and architecture. Over the years, the city has undergone many upheavals and changes, which sometimes turned it into an urban center of regional and global importance, and sometimes into a peripheral city.
The series of articles "Connections of Haifa" will introduce you to the unique connections that make up the mosaic of the city - from the distant past, through the present to plans for the future.
In each article we will focus on a certain area of the city and examine the ways in which it can be preserved, improved and connected to its surroundings, with the aim of creating an urbanism that will reflect the special history of that place, as part of Haifa's rich heritage.
We will start with the Garden of Remembrance and the important connection to the City Hall and continue by examining the history, present and future of other central points in the city.
Past
In the very, very distant past (hundreds of millions of years...) the sea level reached the location of the Garden of Remembrance, and the waves would crash on the mountain, until the flat plateau between the garden and today's Herzl Street was created. If you want - a geological square.
The Burj Citadel (Burj al-Salem, Citadel of Peace) was erected in the center of the Garden of Remembrance in about 1761. The citadel, built in a strategic location above the walled city founded by Dahr al-Omar, served as a point of defense. Even cannons were placed there, which were later taken to Acre in order to protect against Napoleon, who came to Haifa on his way to conquer the country in 1799.
The citadel is an essential part of the symbol of the city of Haifa, which was created in the 30s, and towers over the entrance door to the city hall, but it was abandoned over the years and dismantled, and its stones were used to build other buildings in the city until the end of the 19th century. Today there is no trace of the citadel's existence and the memorial garden stands in its place.
In the late 20s, the British built, nearby, the court, which today functions as the state auditor's office. The building was inaugurated in 1932 and was designed by the architect Austen Harrison. The court replaced the citadel of historical control.
In the early 40s, the City Hall was built adjacent to it - an impressive building designed by the Adrachil Binyamin Chaikin, but already then a gravel road between it and the garden.
"May" cinema was located near the memorial garden on Hassan Shukri street, until it was destroyed and a new building was erected in its place.
In the more recent past, problems of prostitution and drugs arose in the vicinity of the place, but lighting, cleanliness and increased security for the residents led to an improvement in the situation.
Future
As mentioned, no trace remains of the citadel, and the memorial garden is separated from the city hall by a road. Iconic buildings stand along Hassan Shukri Street, on which there are signs with explanations about their past. On the roof of one of them there is an activity of artists and new immigrants. Adjacent to the memorial garden, in a stone building from the 24s, there is currently the Port XNUMX restaurant and a boutique hotel. On the outskirts of the garden are the recruiting office and its headquarters from the mandate period. Bezeq's headquarters, built at the foot of the garden, is apparently destined to become a hotel as well.
Present
Over the years, proposals have been made to sink the road that separates the Memorial Garden from the City Hall, or to cancel the road altogether. This is a great time to re-examine the connection of the municipality to the large square (Memorial Garden) which is spread out in front of it.
Such a square, which will be the continuation of the square of the city hall buildings, without the separation of a busy road, could be used as a place of gathering and civic intervention in local and national contexts - it could be used as a place where book week events would take place, for a flower fair, outdoor screenings at the film festival, stages could be placed there Independence Day, and many more other holiday events.
It could be used as a meeting place for students from the local schools, it could serve foreign and domestic tourism, as a departure point for city tours, for example. It will be possible to determine historical orientation signage, which will show the location where the citadel was and how it looked. It might even be possible to place a 18D model of Haifa from the time of the wall in the XNUMXth century, which stretched at the foot of the garden.
Hassan Shukri Street, named after the mythical mayor of Haifa, who knew how to connect Jews and Arabs, between East and West, will become a connecting point between the City Hall and the Garden of Remembrance, befitting his legacy.
Minimal investment in diverting traffic and paving the road
With a minimal investment, the traffic can be diverted, so that it goes around the front of the City Hall (instead of Hassan Shukri Street, cars will pass on Shmariahu Levin, Ivan Sina and Bialik) so that the section of the street in front of the City Hall will become a continuous continuation of the Memorial Garden Square (instead of a simple asphalt road, paving will be done to the square). This alternative is much better and cheaper than the idea of sinking the road, which will cost a lot of money and favor cars over pedestrians in terms of financial investment.
All that is required is to place low barrier posts to prevent the entry of vehicles (except when setting up stages for events). In the rest of the time, the city square will be a safe space for people and children. A continuous urban square will strengthen the continuation of the street and encourage additional activities on the axis of Hassan Shukri Street, such as restaurants, cafes and starting points for city tours.
city square
Some categorize Haifa, claiming that it does not have one center, being made up of different neighborhoods located at different heights. It's time to give residents a sense of belonging through one big central square, just like we see in cities around the world - the city square. The connection of the city hall (we have a hall! Not just a "city hall") with the memorial garden will create a large and impressive square and will be an urban anchor that will bring the residents closer to the city representatives, and the city representatives to the residents.
The connection of the square is another step in the realization of the vision of the city of gardens of the architect Kaufman, for which modern Haifa was founded - but we will expand on this in the following articles.
Join us on an exciting and surprising journey through the streets of the city, discover the fascinating stories, the iconic places and the vision for a better urban future. Together we will discover how small connections have the power to create big changes, so that Haifa will become a city we are all proud of.
We would love for you to share with us your thoughts and dreams for our city Haifa.
And to sum up all these wonderful responses.. the Garden of Memory as it is called. And Haifa does not have a central site to mark the entire nal and the pressures to establish it are very rightly applied to its planning, therefore any ideas of connecting it in practice will do the opposite because for the sake of memory there is a need for a strong defensive and acoustic separation from the traffic which will be difficult to divert as long as the specified occupied area is not liberated... and it is unlikely that our leaders will give it up unless The public's profitable parking floor below the city engineer's offices will also be dedicated to them.
extras anyone????
The beautiful and important court building was stolen from Haifa. Lindenshood.
The offices of the State Comptroller can also be located in the Tower of the Prophets or the Government Kiryat.
The State Comptroller should not sit in the historic building.
They talked about establishing a commercial court and said that it would be located in Haifa in this building.
They also suggested that there be a Yad Labanim home and a memorial center for the martyrs of the IDF (opposite the memorial garden)
Now fenced and closed to the public.
I think it's an interesting and good idea provided it doesn't create traffic problems due to the road closures. The extension that will be created will attract to it from its surroundings, and perhaps within it entertainment centers. There is no guarantee that this will be the case, but it's worth a try.
Greetings .
I am the great-grandson of Yosef Mashiof from the house of Mashiof in Hassan Shukri.
I would like to check, maybe you will know why the buildings were confiscated from my great-grandfather, where can I check this or find out?
I walked gloriously through the streets of the pioneers, the prophets. Really looks neglected. Halutz, the oldest street, how much fun it was to walk around these streets and Halutz especially where we walked around and shopped with fun and full of experience all the shopping. And finally sit down to eat. Today is very busy with cars and trucks. Not many people go around, why?
Regarding Dr. David Brown, thank you. The pictures of the buildings are grayish. And with him, the pictures he draws are colorful. I really enjoy seeing all the buildings he draws. I say thank you very much to David. Bless you.
underground city
Hadar
The Carmel Center celebrates the dirt
Dirty city😡😡
I remind you that a section of Ibn Sina Street has been appropriated by the municipality officials for their private parking needs. A simple transportation programming check will show that the proposed plan is not applicable. There is no chance that the municipality officials, and even the most senior ones, will give up an occupied area.
Beautiful and interesting
Before investing streets…..
What is the expression on the outskirts of the garden??????
It says: Omar El Khayam fled, corner of Hasan Shukri St
There is a hotel….
What about the Weiss hotel across the street which is in shambles?
How about a cafe in the memory garden, in front of the most beautiful view!
What about a recreation place in Hadar Street where there was a military base? The place where the citadel stood????
It will bring people to a place not a road sink!!!!!
This proposal will not turn the place into a city square. For many reasons, the main one is that little population lives around these buildings, so people do not gather there naturally but only in demonstrations against the municipality. This is not the Kings of Israel Square (today Rabin) which is in the heart of the dense urban area in the center of Tel Aviv.
The square is bordered by small streets without anchors to attract a crowd.
The truth must be told - courts attract a large crowd to them. The state auditor's office does not. It was a mistake to place him there. A part of the courts should have remained there and the State Comptroller's Office should have been moved to the Government Building. You pay for mistakes - in this case Hadar pays a very high price.
Regarding the transport, it requires a transport review.
The Hassan Shukri axis is a central axis through which you go up to Hadar and from Hadar to Carmel and from which you descend from Hadar towards Wadi Salib. Cutting it off is something that will create problems and traffic jams at other intersections in the neighborhood.
The late State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss asked to leave behind a monument that would commemorate his name in the building where Cohen was president of the court. However, the Haifa municipality decided to name an alley after him in the Dania neighborhood or a staircase in the lower city, or vice versa, I'm not sure anymore.
During the renovations, in preparation for the move of the state auditor's office to the mandatory court building, the beautiful black iron gate disappeared. No one found it appropriate to ask the question "Where did the gate that was the symbol of the Mandatory Court go!!!