Solel Boneh House • The first skyscraper in Haifa

Solel Boneh House, located at 1 Hori Street, the office building where the central management of the "Solel Boneh" company operated, is considered the first skyscraper in Haifa.

A brief history of the "Solal Boneh" company

Before the establishment of the state, each party in the Jewish settlement in Palestine had an office that functioned as an employment bureau that organized groups of contractors for public works. The two important offices were those of Ahdut Ha'avado and Hapoel Hatzair. These offices organized groups of workers for the Mandate authorities, mainly for the construction of roads.

With the founding The General Federation of Hebrew Workers in the Land of Israel In 1920, it was decided to unite these offices under one management called the "Office of Public Works and Construction," which dealt with paving roads and laying infrastructure for railways. 

Following the economic crisis that prevailed in Palestine in the years 1925-1927, the Histadrut decided to establish a company called "Solal Boneh - a cooperative Hebrew workers' company for public works, construction and factories."

In 1935, the "Solal Boneh" company recovered from the economic crisis that then befell Israel, thanks to work provided to it by the British Mandate authorities. Among other things, at the beginning of World War II and before, "Solal Boneh" took on work in neighboring countries and built bridges, airports, posts and fortifications for the British army and military projects in Iraq, Egypt, Bahrain and Cyprus, as well as one of the palaces of Abdullah I (!), King of Jordan.
During the War of Independence, Solel Boneh helped strengthen the army and built fortifications and water supply systems, and was in fact the base for the IDF Logistics Corps. 

In 1996, as part of the dissolution of the General Federation of Israeli Workers' Association, control of Solel Boneh was transferred to Ted Arison, a Jewish-American businessman.

In July 2018, "Solal Boneh" was sold as part of the sale of "Shikon ve Binui" to Nati Saidoff, also a Jewish-American businessman who made most of his fortune from diamond trading and real estate.
Today, the company is called "Housing and Construction - Solel Builds Infrastructures."

Solel Boneh House

In 1948, the "Solel Boneh" company purchased part of the "Huri Estate" (an area that stretched on both sides of today's Huri Street), and built on it the tallest office building in the city, at the time. The company's management operated in the 11-story "Solel Boneh House", designed by architect Shmuel Rozov, which was inaugurated in 1953.

The building is planned as two boxy blocks of different heights connected to each other, 8 and 11 stories high. It is designed in straight lines, in a modernist style. The network of office windows spread out along the walls is the only sad element of the building. Their uniform size and shape reflect (perhaps) the principle of social equality of the period. The walls are clad in light-colored sawn stone slabs. At the top of the tall block, on the side facing the intersection, is the symbol of the "Solal Boneh" company, which includes the letters "S" and "B" interlaced in light stone against a dark stone background.

Hori Mansion

As mentioned, the land on which Beit Solel Boneh was built was part of the Khoury family estate, a Christian-Maronite family originating from Lebanon. In the late 19th century, the family even financed the establishment of the Maronite church in the city. 

In 1908, Khoury built for himself and his family a magnificent residential building in a large estate that became known as the "Khory Palace." The estate included all the land on which the "Solal Boneh" house and later the "Tower of the Prophets" (designed by architect M. Tzur) were later built. The "Khory Palace" itself was burned and destroyed during the battles for the conquest of Haifa in the War of Independence, in an operation known as "Bearing the Bitterness."

Shmuel Rozov, the architect

Shmuel Rozov (1900-1975), was born in St. Petersburg, the capital of Tsarist Russia. In 1917, the year of the Bolshevik Revolution, he went to study in London and was certified as a civil engineer and architect there. In 1924, he immigrated to Israel and began working for the Electric Company, the life's work of Pinchas Rotenberg. In 1930, he opened an independent planning office and was later joined by his son, Ari Rozov. In the 60s, he was a member of the planning team for the Haifa master plan.

His notable works, besides Beit Solel Boneh, include:

• Naharim power station
• Beit Pinchas Rotenberg, "Hazaken Menharim" (not far from the Dan Carmel hotel)
• Dan Carmel Hotel
• "Armon" Cinema on HaNevi'im Street (the current Armon Tower was built in its place)
• Beit Egged in the former central Egged station in Bat Galim (together with Aryeh Sharon, Benjamin Idelson, Aryeh Freiberger).

The Haifa City Council named a street after architect Shmuel Rozov in the Check Post area.

Epilogue

The Solel Boneh Building, the iconic building in Hadar Carmel, is considered Haifa's first skyscraper and is what gave the intersection its name and importance as an employment center and a major economic hub in Haifa. It served as the management building of the Solel Boneh company until the 90s. Today, it is mostly leased to the Haifa Municipality.

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