In the week when the world is commemorating the "twin disaster" that occurred on 11/9/2001, it seems natural to us to turn our attention to the "Haifai Twins", the Panorama Towers, located on Hanasi Boulevard, in front of Gan Ham.
Panorama Towers
Both towers are built above a 2-story shopping center. One tower is used for luxury apartments (24 square meters) and the other (23 square meters) is used for a hotel of the Dan Hotels chain called "Dan Panorama". The towers were built between the years 1980-86 according to the plans of the architects Shlomo Gilad and Hichiel Comet on a plot of land where a hotel owned by the Templar Schneider was situated.
The construction of the towers in the center of the Carmel Ridge sparked a public debate since it "breaks" the ridge line. On a day with good visibility, they can be seen from a distance of about 100 km and thus they have become one of the symbols of the city.
In the shopping center, which is the base on which the towers are built, there are mainly fashion stores and cafes. Until 2009, a movie theater also operated in the center. On the second floor of the shopping center there is a view balcony overlooking the Haifa Bay and connecting to the Lui Promenade.
Schneider Hotel
Until the establishment of the state, in the area where the towers were built there was a German guest house, the Schneider Hotel, as part of the "German Carmel". It was built in 1911, by Pastor Schneider, who came to Israel in 1908, with the aim of establishing a "new mission". Schneider's house was built in 1913 at 130 Hashabi Street. After it was renovated and conservation operations were carried out (being a "preservation building"), it is now used as a boutique hotel "Carmela".
Architect Shlomo Gilad.
Shlomo Gilad (1922-2005), born in Poland, immigrated to Israel with his family in 1933 and lived in Haifa. Studied architecture at the Technion (1944). Starting in 1955, he ran an independent planning office but also taught at the Technion Faculty of Architecture (senior lecturer). His office was involved in many projects in the Haifa area and within the kibbutz movement, throughout the country, from Margaliot in the north to Sde Boker in the south.
His projects in Haifa include: the Eshkol Tower at the University of Haifa (in partnership with Edr. Niemeyer), the Municipal Theater and the Pevzner Library, the Staircase Building at the University of Haifa, the Student House at the Technion and the Biram House at the Reali School.
Architect Yehiel Comet
Yehiel Comet was born in Haifa (1950) and graduated from the Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning at the Technion. Began professional work in 1978 when he joined his father's side, in the Ratt, Comet, Kenner, Architects office.
Between the years 1982-87 he was the chief architect responsible for the design of the Dan Panorama Hotel (within the office of Haim Panchal). Later he specialized in hotels and Shemesh as a responsible chief architect in a series of hotels including Dan Eilat, Harrods Eilat, Queen of Sheba Eilat and more.
Later he moved to design educational and religious buildings. In 2012, he was involved in the planning of the largest cemetery in Israel, at Har Hamanohut, for about 30,000 graves for burial in floors.
The twin attack
On September 11.9.2001, XNUMX (nine eleven), a number of suicide attacks took place in the USA that were planned and carried out by the al-Qaeda organization headed by Osama bin Laden. The worst attack was against the "Twin Towers" that stood in the World Trade Center in Manhattan, New York.
This terrorist attack is considered the largest and deadliest in human history. It claimed the lives of about 3000 civilians and another 6000 were injured. After about 10 years of hunting, Bin Laden was found and killed in 2011 in Pakistan. In the place where the 2 Twin Towers stood (ground zero) a commemorative site was established and the 1776-foot "Herut Tower" was built, as the year of the declaration of the USA.
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There is a longer history behind these two buildings. After the war of liberation there were 2 long barracks in the area with 4 families of military personnel. Around 1973, an agreement was signed with the tenants in the barracks and the rest of the area and they left. The area was sold by the army to the Pederman family. In the rest of the area, there were several other families, some of whom lived in what you call a boarding house. In my opinion, it was not a boarding house because on the basement floor there were detention rooms with windows that were slit from their foils that let in only air and not light. Something that is not suitable for a boarding house, perhaps more to a police station or a private torture cellar. In and around those rooms were also iron balls used for firing cannons.
Wonderful painting.
Thank you very much, have a good week!
The best thing that can be done is to destroy the small houses of a floor or two near the Panorama Center up to the Lebanon Gate. Expand the shopping center with a wing for large stores and another supermarket that will be a competition for Shofersal and on top of that build 2 more towers with apartments for long term rent.
For forty years the landowners have been trying to carry out your very sensible proposal. The only problem is that it makes sense and therefore the Haifa Municipality does not approve it. According to the same logic, they limited the building height along the axis of the ridge to 9-14 floors. Why not 20 as in Panorama?
If we lived in a totalitarian regime, the authority could decide to demolish buildings, consolidate plots and build as it wished. But still, in our regime, there is room for private property rights and private initiative. When a developer buys the plots from the current owners, your proposal may be realized... by the way, I'm not sure that expanding the center will bring relief to the business owners, there is a new center 500 m away...
The pair of towers can also be seen above me and in Hamdon above the Beers. It is much more than 100 km.
thank you for your response.
As a child as well as a teenager and an adult who lived all his life on the Carmel, I remember very well the area on which the Panorama Towers and Panorama Center stand today.
The territory was divided into 2, 1/3 from the east and 2/3 from the west.
In the eastern part there was a botanical garden, like the garden that was located in front of the Water Tower at the intersection of Heinrich Heine (the former Tower Square), Water and Mein Streets.
In my childhood as a student of the Reali school, we visited the kindergarten and got a demonstration of a wheat thresher.
In the western part of the area there were 2 one-story wooden houses, where two families lived.
Thank you for your response, Shabbat Shalom.
The rooftop promenade above Panorama Center gives an international feel with the link above Shaar HaLebanon Street and it's a shame there isn't another arm to Gan Ham instead of the closed underground passage.
But it's on the roof level on the street level it seems that the whole surroundings of the Panorama Center suffer from neglect, it's not clear if because of him or because of urban stupidity.
Gan Ham - the underground passage is closed and the avenue of shops in Gan Ham is neglected
The conch in the mother garden and the surrounding area of the garden are very neglected
The zoo is outdated and it should be gone. The prehistoric museum is closed and abandoned.
The Mintz Library has been burning for 7 years in front of the Panorama Center
Next to it, the Mana Katz Museum has been closed for 3 years because the municipality refuses to make it accessible
The stone houses at the Lebanon Gate are neglected and instead of manicured gardens, a backyard with a parking lot
The Panorama parking lot in front of Yaffe Nof has created a dark and ugly place that is alien to the pastoral street
Above the rooftop promenade there is a youth center, a public building on the high level of the promenade that the residents of Migdal Panorama demanded to block it to the public and the youth center stands empty and desolate
Even from the upper boardwalk they closed the entrance to the Panorama Center and there are no shops or even a kiosk, the shops in the Panorama Center only have closed windows facing the boardwalk
Everything that could have been a beautifully connected center with public buildings and well-kept gardens around it has become a desolate derelict with a lot of abandonment and failed planning and closed public buildings.
The place that could have been a huge attraction not only to see a view on the promenades but to spend a whole day in a city park, shopping and culture combined, is simply crumbling before our eyes.
Thank you for your response. Indeed, most of the failures you point to stem from the municipality's mismanagement - see Beit Marma Katz, the state of Gan Ham, etc. On the other hand, the economic forces are doing their thing and that is why the Panorama Center has decreased in size. Apparently Haifa cannot have so many commercial centers at short distances from each other.
The shopping center was very beautiful now it has really gone down in level considerably, it's a shame
Thank you for your response. When the public flocks to another shopping center - for example the Grand Canyon - then this center empties and decreases in activity...
Pastor Martin Schneider was not a Templar but a Lutheran (Protestant). The building was called the Mission and its purpose was a way of hosting and assisting the community and or the guests. There was a building that over the years was neglected and looked terrible.
Thank you very much for your comment, the error has been corrected. Shabbat Shalom!