Jerusalem has still not published a comprehensive Preservation Index of heritage buildings, defying a 17-year legal obligation. In the meantime, 300 historic buildings have been destroyed.
By BARRY DAVISjerusalem old house 88(photo credit: )
Ask your average Jerusalemite what he or she knows about the history of the capital's architecture and the most likely response will be something along the lines of: "There's ancient stuff and there's new stuff."
The truth is that Jerusalem is jam-packed with architectural delights dating from various junctures of the last 100 or so years, which any local or tourist can enjoy at their leisure - at least for now.
Sadly, if you haven't already gotten an eyeful of some of these gems, many of which date back to the time when the Turks ruled the roost here, you'd better get a move on. They are gradually disappearing, either through demolition or by being modified out of all recognition.
Still others are meeting different fates. On Sunday, the cabinet voted to transfer ownership of one of Jerusalem's most beloved historical sites, Sergei's Courtyard, to Moscow. The downtown complex, built in 1890 to house Russian pilgrims, presently houses offices of the Agriculture Ministry and the Jerusalem branch of the Society for Protection of Nature in Israel.
The areas that are suffering the most include Baka and the German Colony, not to mention the historic and richly appointed Palace Hotel on Rehov Agron, which has been reduced to a symbolic façade. Rehov Hanevi'im, which is chock-full of historic edifices, is also slated for destruction or reconstruction, as the municipality seeks to divert traffic from Jaffa Road in preparation for the light rail route.
Meanwhile, Jerusalem Municipality spokesman Gidi Schmerling rigorously rejects the claim that the municipality is obliterating the city's history. He says that Jerusalem was at the forefront of urban preservation following unification in 1967 and, after a furlough in the Eighties and Nineties, the municipality's planning administration "has worked to advance heritage work across the city."
With regard to the gutting of the Palace Hotel, Schmerling says the first version of the demolition plan was passed in 1982, and that such a plan "would probably not be sanctioned today."
Anyone taking part in last month's two-day Houses From Within event, which offered the public a glimpse of around 100 of the city's more spectacular - and normally less accessible - buildings might also have noticed Dr. Itay Fischhendler and a number of his colleagues from the environmental group Batim Nikhadim (Extinct Houses) handing out leaflets bemoaning the loss, and impending loss, of a long list of local heritage buildings.
According to Fischhendler, who is head of the Environmental Policy, Planning and Management Program of the Department of Geography at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the municipality is systematically destroying the city's architectural gems for quick gain.
"It's all about real estate and money," he declares. "You have all these politicians there, and all they are interested in is allowing people to enlarge buildings so that the municipality can charge increased property tax. It is a travesty."
Fischhendler, who lives in Baka - one of the worst hit areas of the city - says he first decided to act when taking part in last year's Houses From Within event. "There were around 80,000 people at the event sponsored by the municipality. I saw how impressed the public was with the buildings, and with the municipality's efforts to preserve them. But the public had no idea that the very same municipality also had plans to destroy many of those buildings.
"The Houses From Within event was a fig leaf. The municipality is obliterating all the beautiful houses from the late 19th and early 20th century for the benefit of real estate developers. I realized that Houses From Within was a farce."
Fischhendler and his wife Leron quickly got together with other Jerusalemites, including fellow Baka residents, and established Batim Nikhadim (http://shimur.blogspot.com).
The group, which now numbers around 60, began gathering information on heritage buildings in Jerusalem that had been destroyed, were being demolished or radically modified, or were slated for demolition.
"We decided to distribute the leaflet with information about the endangered heritage buildings and some of those that had already been destroyed in Baka, the German Colony and Rehov Hanevi'im," says Fischhendler. "We gave out 6,000 leaflets over the two days."
The cost of designing and printing the leaflets was borne by private residents and by the SHELI Fund.
In addition to the leaflets, Batim Nikhadim also offers seven different tours of areas with heritage houses that are slated for demolition.
According to Fischhendler, the move elicited a swift and angry response from the powers that be. "We didn't hide the tours or the leaflets from the municipality. They said we were 'ruining the festivities.' We are not willing to let the municipality get away with pulling the wool over people's eyes," he says.
ONE OF the major obstacles to enforcing preservation orders on old buildings is the absence of an official Preservation Index (cartesset shimur). "The Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies on Rehov Radak prepared the list of preservation sites for the municipality 15 years ago. The list includes about 4,000 houses, actually 1,500 structures which contain 4,000 houses," says Fischhendler. "The problem is that the index has yet to be published, and that means it has no statutory power and cannot be enforced. Three hundred structures have already been destroyed. That's 20 percent gone forever."
Schmerling notes that "the existing index is old and out of date. Although parts of it have been approved, published and even expanded in recent years, it is still incomplete, and one of the municipality's objectives is to complete it as soon as possible."
Schmerling adds that, when the preservation list is eventually completed, "we will publish the data [on how many heritage buildings there are in Jerusalem, how many have been demolished and how many are slated for demolition]. It should be noted that reports of the destruction of hundreds of old buildings in recent years are completely inaccurate."
One of the endangered buildings is an Ottoman edifice on the corner of Derech Beit Lehem and Rehov Shimshon dating back to 1906. "The building is listed in the index and is registered in the urban construction plan for Baka as a heritage site. Despite all that, the plan is to add two more floors to the building and to put up an entire separate building at the front - between the old building and Derech Beit Lehem. Hardly anything will remain of the original design. It's a farce," says Fischhendler.
Schmerling says there are approved building rights for the Ottoman site that have yet to be exercised. "Currently, professional talks are being held between the building's architect and the Preservation Unit, so that the addition to the building is commensurate with the original building."
Another edifice at risk is the Schneller Building on Rehov Malchei Yisrael, currently part of an army base, which was built as an orphanage in 1860. "Schneller's doomed too," says Fischhendler. "It's going to be replaced by housing for the ultra-Orthodox community."
The Antiquities Law states that all buildings and sites dating from before 1700 must be preserved, leaving those constructed after that date defenseless. This led to the creation of the Society for Preservation of Jerusalem Heritage Sites in December 1984.
According to the green Coalition for a Sustainable Jerusalem Web site, although Amendment 31 of the Planning and Construction Law calls for the establishment of a preservation committee and the preparation of a list of heritage sites to be preserved in Jerusalem, this has yet to be completed. The amendment was passed in 1991.
"It is ridiculous," says Fischhendler. "Seventeen years have gone by since the amendment was introduced, and this destruction just goes on, and the index still hasn't been completed or published. The State Comptroller's Report states the municipality's official reason for not publishing the index as not having sufficient personnel."
Architect Ali Vardi is similarly perplexed by the state of affairs. "The Jerusalem Municipality finally set up a Preservation Unit about six months ago, with four part-time professionals. That's something, at least, but it really isn't enough. Tel Aviv and Haifa, for example, which have far fewer heritage sites, have had full-time preservation professionals on board for some years."
Like Fischhendler, Vardi eagerly awaits the issue of the elusive Preservation Index. "The amendment to the law, passed in 1991, calls for an index for each city to be published within two years. So Jerusalem is already 15 years out of date in that regard."
Vardi says some efforts were made by the authorities to get the index out, but they have fallen short. "A professional team was appointed to draft the index and issue the list, but then the bureaucracy started, which I believe was intentional. They had all sorts of pretexts, like there being too many details to address. The person in charge of the master plan said there was too much work involved. There is no preservation because the buildings are not protected, and the law cannot be enforced."
The building at Rehov Yordei Hasira 19 in Rehavia, which was recently rebuilt out of all recognition, is also a thorn in the side of the Batim Nikhadim group.
Schmerling agrees that the work should not have gone ahead, although he claims that the municipality was powerless to prevent the unwanted redesign. "The change was carried out in contravention of the guidelines laid down by the municipality and the Preservation Unit," he says, adding that "legal proceedings are currently under way against the parties involved."
Schmerling adds, however, that not only does the legal situation leave much to be desired, it is the public groundswell, rather than the municipal powers that be, that is fueling hope for preserving the city's architectural heritage.
"It is important to point out that the law does not provide many means for enforcing preservation and, moreover, it is only now with the emergence of public awareness of the issue that the legal bodies are now addressing the matter and beginning to enforce it," he says.
Fischhendler says he and his colleagues expect a long drawn-out battle with the municipality, but says he doesn't intend to give up. "If we don't act now, 10 years from now there will no heritage buildings left in Jerusalem."
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