The American Colony in Jaffa, founded in the mid-1800s, and also known as the German Colony, will undergo a thorough renovation and preservation. The NIS 6 million project will be financed by the Tel Aviv municipality and the Hamashlima Leyafo municipal authority, through Ezra and Betzaron Neighborhood Co. Ltd. Work will begin next month.
The project includes Auerbach St., Bar Hoffman St., and Harebbi Hamevorach St. The area's infrastructures and street lighting will be replaced, power lines will be put underground, outside furniture will be installed, the streets will be closed to traffic, and gardens planted. Century-old buildings, such as the Jerusalem Hotel, the Emanuel Church, and Park Hotel (which hosted Kaiser Wilhelm II on his 1898 tour of the country), will be restored.
The American Colony was founded by a group of 157 evangelists in September 1866 who believed that settling the Holy Land would lead to renewed Jewish settlement. The group, from the Maine-based Church of the Messiah led by George Jones Adams, brought 22 prefabricated wooden houses, furniture, work tools, and household goods. They were unprepared for the area's harsh conditions, and thirteen members of the community, including eight children, died in the temporary encampment. The community leased land for farming while the Ottoman authorities delayed allowing the purchase of land. Mark Twain encountered some of the colonists on his trip to the Holy Land in 1867, as reported in "The Innocents Abroad".
The crops mostly failed, the community was raided by local Bedouin, and within a year, most members returned to the US. Most of the remaining properties were sold to the German Templars, founded by Christoph Hoffmann and Georg David Hardegg. The American Colony, now the German Colony, expanded to 500 dunam (125 acres) by 1871, becoming affiliated with Sarona (now also a Tel Aviv neighborhood undergoing preservation and renovation). By 1881, the colony had 26 residences, eight built from wood, surrounded by a wall. The Templars' colony became a well-known tourist attraction of the time, and included three hotels and a Thomas Cook travel agency.
The German Colony in Jaffa survived until World War II, when the British Mandatory authorities expelled the Templars. The abandoned properties eventually came under the control of the Israeli government.
Ezra and Betzaron CEO Eli Ginsburg said, "Renovation and preservation of the American-German Colony will preserve part of Tel Aviv-Jaffa's heritage. The project will promote tourism and raise property values in the area."
Among the buildings slated for renovation and preservation are the Ackley Norton House at 4 Auerbach St., one of the wooden houses of the original American settlers; the Jerusalem Hotel next door, founded by Hardegg's son; the neo-Gothic style Emanuel Church at 8 Auerbach St., built in 1904 and still in use; the Frank House next door; and the wooden Floyd House, built by Rollo Floyd, one of the few American families to stay on in the country, and now used as a sculptor's studio.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on January 27, 2008
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