At the corner of Moriah Boulevard and Hanadiv Boulevard stands the Traub House, a house with a particularly sculptural appearance, bearing the characteristic features of the International Style, and the first to be built on Hanadiv Boulevard in the neighborhood. Chambord.
Shambor neighborhood
The name of the Shambor neighborhood is a corruption of the name of Schönbür, an Arab landowner resident of Kababir, from whom the neighborhood's lands were purchased. Already during the Mandate period, the area appeared in urban plans under the name "Earth of Shambor".
The neighborhood began to develop in the 30s in the spirit of principles Garden City – Spacious construction, green lots and a combination of urban residences with a quiet and lush environment. The architectural core of the neighborhood was Sderot Handiv, named after Baron Edmond de Rothschild,The well-known benefactor".
Over the years, houses were built in Shambur designed by a number of prominent Haifa architects, including Moshe Hat, Shmuel Rozov, Benjamin Ural, Yehezkel Zohar, and Adolf Erdinger. Many of them expressed the international style and its adaptation to the landscape and green spaces of the Carmel.
Over the years, Shambor established itself as one of the most sought-after residential neighborhoods in Haifa, and its residents included members of the Recanati, Ofer, and Dankner families.
According to the conservation file compiled by Architect Noa Shek, one of the first buildings in the neighborhood, and the first on Hanadiv Boulevard, was Traub House – An apartment building whose construction testifies to the trust its owners placed in the potential of the new neighborhood.
The Traubs – the home's entrepreneurs
The house was built on the initiative of the couple. Shayna-Miriam and Isaac TraubShayna-Mariam was born in Poland, but little is known about the couple's past. Their choice to build an apartment building here, at a time when Shambor was still in its infancy, testifies to an entrepreneurial vision and confidence in the neighborhood's future.
The couple remained owners of the property in the following years. In 1941, Isaac Traub requested a permit to construct an additional structure on the roof, and in 1942, internal changes were made to the building.
Traub House – International Style Architecture
The Traub House is a three-story apartment building, designed by architects Yitzhak Sirkin and David Galevsky, in the international style that characterized much of Haifa's construction in the 30s.
The building consists of several geometric volumes that integrate with each other, playing between the straight lines of the main cubic mass and rounded volumes.
On the facade facing Hanadiv Boulevard, the entrance axis stands out, emphasized by a vertical window in the stairwell, which extends almost the entire height of the building. Above it, a rounded element stands out, ending the stairwell and giving this facade a distinct sculptural character. The verticality of the entrance axis stands in contrast to the horizontal sash windows, creating a compositional tension, typical of the International Style.
On the facade facing Moriah Street, the same idea is developed even more strongly: circular and rounded volumes integrate into the main cubic volume of the house. A prominent cylindrical volume, windows that follow the curve, and rounded balconies soften the central mass and create a rich three-dimensional composition.
The flat roof, light plaster, horizontal openings and lack of decoration complete the modernist language. The house stands within a plot of mature vegetation, which now hides parts of its facades and at the same time illustrates the green character of Chambord and the “garden city” spirit according to which the neighborhood developed.
This is how a dialogue takes place between the two fronts: The curved element that ends the staircase on Hanadiv Boulevard is echoed on the Moriah Street facade, where sculpturality becomes the organizing principle of the entire composition. The house was therefore designed not as a collection of separate facades, but as a three-dimensional architectural body intended to be read from all sides.
About the architects: Yitzhak Sirkin and David Galevsky
Yitzhak Sirkin (1883–1938), born in Russia and the younger brother of Nachman Sirkin (a Zionist leader after whom Sirkin Street is named), studied sculpture and architecture in Russia. After a period at Bezalel and in Germany, he settled in Haifa in 1920, where he taught painting and crafts at the Reali School and even designed the school's emblem. At the same time, he practiced architecture and designed a series of residential buildings in the city.
David Galevsky (died 1965), born in Poland, studied architecture at the Danzig Institute of Technology and arrived in Israel in 1933. In Haifa, he collaborated with Sirkin in the design of several buildings in the International Style, including the Traub House and the Mushayoff House on President Boulevard. Later, he worked in partnership with his wife, the architect Miriam Galevsky, and among their joint works was the building בHerzel street 2, which we told about in a previous article in the series. Galevsky was killed in a car accident in France in 1965.
It is difficult not to see a connecting line between Sirkin's training and activity as a sculptor and the prominent sculptural character of the Traub House.
Traub House - a building for preservation
The Traub House is included in the Haifa Municipality's list of buildings for preservation. Its importance stems from both its location at the beginning of Shambor's development and its architectural quality and distinct characteristics of the International Style. The Haifa Municipality particularly notes the combination of cubic and cylindrical volumes, the unique staircase window, and the original details that have been preserved.
The building's conservation status was put to the test in 2021, when during renovation work on the site, an administrative order was issued by the city engineer to stop work that the municipality claimed was being done illegally. The dispute even reached court.
The legal proceedings ended with a ruling in favor of the municipality, which opposed changes to the building's facade that could have harmed its original architectural character.
Almost ninety years after it was one of the buildings that marked the beginning of Shambor, the Traub House stands as a reminder of an important chapter in the development of construction on the Carmel.
Thanks
My gratitude to my friend Dr. Hannah Feiger, who organizes and guides the popular tours between Haifa stairs, for suggesting the topic and for the extensive information she shared with me, which helped formulate the article and bring it to publication.
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.
We invite our readers to suggest buildings as subjects for articles and if interesting stories are found behind them we will be happy to review them in this section.
History is only important if it is preserved for generations, without giving real estate contractors a foothold in preserving the buildings.
The penthouse on the third and last floor of the Traub house was bought by my father in 1969 and registered in my name. My two children, Ofer and Yael, were born into this house. My son's friends called our building "The Castle." Apparently, because of its special and different structure, it seemed to them like a building from a fairy tale. Back then, children read books. In 1983, we moved to Tel Aviv and I sold the house in order to buy a house in Tel Aviv. If it were possible, I would move it to Tel Aviv. It and the amazing view and sunsets that looked out from it. Ayelet Kris Vital (Wittelson).
The power of a painting is stronger than words… My name is Yaeli and words will not be able to describe the feelings I was overwhelmed with from your painting, dear and talented David!! It only took a split second, one look at the painting, and the longing for the days, for the powerful experiences, their influence on my life and character, that shaped me into who I am today, to make me indescribably excited!! My name is Yaeli, I lived with my mother and brother in this building on the top floor, the complete attic floor!! There were two roofs to the apartment. If I close my eyes, like in the Zemo tunnel, I can physically feel!! The house, the building, the green avenue, the bench on the avenue that appears in all our childhood pictures, just like that on a weekday, with the costumes my grandmother sewed for us, when my mother would do "fitness" and run around the avenue with us and we, we would get tired in the middle and run to the bench! The building, the Traub Building and the house, the "penthouse" apartment where we lived for many years, will forever be a piece of my life!! One of the most significant!! I was born in March 1973. My beloved grandfather, the late Pinchas Kris, bought my mother Ayelet the house, which we left with the most severe pain of separation!! In 1981. Until my last day, I will carry the memory of the cool air of the Carmel that entered our house and cooled it like the weather in the hot summer, the view of the university building that was visible on the horizon from my brother's bedroom window, the roofs where I "squirted" water from an improvised "pool" every summer, the yard of the building where we ran, played and, at best, sat! And we cracked the black bark of the pine nuts that we removed from the pine cones with a stone and two days before we went home "black-"sooty" from the pine nut bark, we still managed to absorb a "scolding" from our neighbor Mr. Litman, that we dare not destroy anything in the garden!! Yes, David.. I am part of the Traub House hysteria! Me and my family! And the information you provided in the article is so interesting and touching (personal!! In my case!!) it renewed me and moved me to tears!!
Writing again after last night..
The municipality knew what was happening there. The property buyer hid everything with tarps.. cut down trees. took over public areas in front. created and raised walls… what does a judgment mean?? To the best of my knowledge, no one was sued by the municipality. The trial was conducted by a stubborn neighbor in the condominium registry.. and she won.. All the municipality did was complete the expropriation.. and since then - nothing. The residents of the neighborhood held a tour there for council representatives. A garden with toad statues. An illegal warehouse in the front. Turning a balcony into an entrance while sealing the original entrance from the stairwell. Pouring concrete on the garden soil. Raising a wall.. no, no.. The municipality is hereby called upon to restore the important building to its glory.. Thanks to David for bringing up the situation at the end and a little in the registration, but it is a pity that it is not in its entirety. I hope that now the municipality will read… and honor past properties that were demolished with defiance worthy of attention and in advance.
There used to be pride, every building was a special creation with thought given to the location of the building, how it would be viewed, and from which direction it would be seen. Today, it's all clumsy construction by contractors, no style, no guidelines. The ground floors are just dark parking lots that are unpleasant to walk around. Today, they are demolishing one building after another in boring contractor construction, also destroying the character of the old Carmel neighborhoods, which is a shame.
Asks to find out if there is a connection to Raya Traub
Sorry, I have no way of finding out. Have a good week!
Good.
.But…the pictures do not represent the unfortunate state of the building and this is under the cover of the helplessness of many departments. The facades have changed, especially on the ground floor, in a predatory way. The residents of the neighborhood have already turned to the municipality and called on it to act and stop taking over public land and restoring the situation to its former glory. If it were possible here, I would attach pictures of how everything was done in hiding with tarpaulins. Trees were cut down and a toy garden with silly statues was placed. A school of how the municipality is not acting firmly. I will write directly..The time has come..the municipality must act..please be strong and then maybe something will happen that will cause a change. To renew the dignity of the building.
Very interesting and waiting. We pass by buildings and wonder what they are saying.
Your illustration/drawing David is always enjoyable and it was nice to meet you face to face.
Thanks for the support, have a good week!