When you walk along the axis of a beautiful street that faces the side of the landscape towards the slopes of Haifa and the sea, you immediately recognize a building with tiled roofs of different heights and slopes and decorated with turrets that give it the appearance of a castle. The structure immediately raises curiosity for being an unusual structure in the existing landscape.
who are you castle house
In the 30s during the British Mandate in Israel, Maurice and Anis Aviad, members of a wealthy Arab Catholic family, commissioned the services of the Italian architect LUIGI MERULLA. The construction was completed in 1937. Pinchas Rotenberg, the founder of the Palestine Electric Company, the parent of the Israel Electric Company, lived on the upper floors of the house. The Aviad family owned many properties in Haifa and left Haifa in 1948 and their properties were confiscated under the Absentee Law.
Architectural details
The house was originally built on a plot of 1.1 dunam, and the built area is about 500 square meters. On the ground floor there is a lounge, a kitchen, changing rooms and a bar. Bells were scattered throughout the apartment, which were used by the owner to summon the servants. On the first floor 4 Bedrooms and a dressing room. To build balconies on each floor. The house is built of roughly hewn stone and reinforced concrete. The tiled roof consists of a large number of slopes at different heights, and is decorated with turrets that give it the appearance of a castle, hence its name. The house was designed in an eclectic architectural style that characterizes many buildings at that time, especially in Tel Aviv. In the basement floor together with the laundry room and servants' room, there were originally water storage pits. According to the original plan, the roof of the northern minaret was built of copper plates in a dome design, but at some point in the building's life it was replaced with tiles.
The location of the building
The building is above the Sabion alley, which was then a donkey path that led down to the terraces. Opposite the castle building was the Carmelite Templar Mission, which was destroyed in the early 80s of the 20th century in favor of the construction of today's Panorama Towers.
Dear readers,
The article is based on open information published in sources such as Wikipedia and other websites and may include various historical inaccuracies arising from the aforementioned sources.
I don't mind why nothing was built on the ruins of the Tamar cinema that burned down in my youth, and the Ron and Ora cinemas are so neglected. How long will it stay that way? Yossi Hibshar that my grandparents arrived in Haifa in 1925
You can read the entry on the castle on Wikipedia, which I greatly expanded in September, including photos of the beautiful plans. On the ground floor there were servants' rooms and two water reservoirs, in fact the house is one of the last to be built with such reservoirs. According to the records of the Central Office of Architects in Rome, Marola closed his practice in 1950. Thanks for the article.
Poor owners of the house.. Apparently after they left and the house was expropriated, they lived as refugees in a tent camp in Lebanon and miss the house to this day..
True, sad
charming. I seem to know the building.
Not its content and the story behind it
Wonderful paintings
I lived in this amazing house
Over the years, the house has been divided into three separate apartments, all of which are inhabited by people from the Yishuv. Enjoy the view.
What a beautiful painting, an architectural and historical review.
I already said... I love studying Haifa with the help of your drawings and your detailed review 💙🧡🙏
Align power
And good luck in the future.
rose
What is in this building now? Does it belong to a private person?
Lovely!
Interesting article and the painting is wonderful.
A well-known and loved Carmelite gem since I can remember. Thank you Yossi and all the best.
Fascinating. I wonder who lives in the house today? Is it privately owned?