Drawings and plans for the Central Building and Great Aula of the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, were shown yesterday for the first time, by Julian Clarence Levi, of Taylor & Levi, architects for the building, at a tea given in his studio. Given to the University as a memorial to her husband by Mrs. Sol Rosenbloom of New York City and Pittsburgh, the building will be erected at a cost of half a million dollars. The drawings will be on view for their first public showing in the forthcoming exhibition of the Architectural League.
“The architecture of the Rosenbloom Building will have no prototype in Palestine, or in fact, anywhere else in the world,” said Mr. Levi, who visited Jerusalem last year for the purpose of surveying the site, and of making preliminary plans for the building.
“Without any attempt to adopt or duplicate buildings of other peoples or other periods,” said Mr. Levi, “the Rosenbloom Building has been designed with a view to having it conform to and form a natural part of the rugged hilly country which surrounds the University. We hope that the building may be instrumental not only in setting a standard for construction of other public buildings in Palestine, but perhaps in assisting to solve the problem of Jewish architecture in that country.”
Every precaution has been taken to protect the building from damage from possible earthquake shocks. Before preparing the plans, Mr. Levi studied carefully the extent and nature of the damage caused to buildings in Jerusalem by the last earthquake which occurred in the winter of 1928. He also examined the reports of experts regarding the land on Mt. Scopus, on which the buildings of the Hebrew University stand. The method of construction provides for reinforced concrete and steel, and the foundations will be “spread” to add to the stability of the structure. The building itself is so designed that the mass as a whole, and the relation of its parts to each other will act as an aid in insuring strength and stability.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
