Zoltan "Shimshon" Harmat, born Stern (August 20, 1900 in
Máramarossziget, Hungary - June 1, 1985 in Israel)
was an Israeli architect.
Biography
Zoltan Harmat was born in the town of Máramarossziget, Hungary (today
Sighet in
Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...
). Harmat's parents provided him with a rich education and cultural experience. His father served as a teacher and director of a local Jewish school.
At the end of high school, Harmat decided to study architecture at the
Budapest Faculty of Architecture and completed his degree in 1924.
[
After graduation Harmat worked for one year in his profession, before immigrating to ]Mandate Palestine
Mandatory Palestine ( ar, فلسطين الانتدابية '; he, פָּלֶשְׂתִּינָה (א״י) ', where "E.Y." indicates ''’Eretz Yiśrā’ēl'', the Land of Israel) was a geopolitical entity established between 1920 and 1948 i ...
.[ In the following years he went back several times to visit his relatives, the last time just days before the ]outbreak
In epidemiology, an outbreak is a sudden increase in occurrences of a disease when cases are in excess of normal expectancy for the location or season. It may affect a small and localized group or impact upon thousands of people across an entire ...
of the Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, Harmat making it back to Palestine on the last ship to cross in peacetime.[ After the war there was no one left of his family in Sighet, all having been killed in the ]Auschwitz extermination camp
Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...
.[
In Palestine Harmat joined a firm lead by the renowned British architect Albert Clifford Holliday and worked there for the next five years.][ During this period, he participated in the planning of many projects in Jerusalem, including St Andrew's Church (the "Scottish Church"; 1927), the ]Town Hall
In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...
on Jaffa Street 22 (1930), the Bible Society House on 7 Yohanan MeGush Halav (John of Giscala
John of Gischala ( grc-gre, Ἰωάννης, ; 70) was a leader of the first Jewish revolt against the Romans.
History
During the Jewish war with Rome, John of Gischala ( grc-gre, Ἰωάννης ἀπὸ Γισχάλων), son of Levi (), vied ...
) Street (1926–28), and two new wings for the outpatient Saint John Eye Hospital, separated by the Hebron Road - one wing is currently the Mt Zion Hotel, and the other the .[
Around the 1930s and 1940s, he designed, independently, homes for elite families in Jerusalem.
One of his most famous designs is the Holyland Hotel near the Malha neighbourhood. The hotel was planned in 1952, built between 1955-1958,][Lawrence Rifkin]
''Holy Corruption''
The Jerusalem Post, 2 May 2010. Retrieved 12 November 2020. Harmat designed the hotel implementing a modern International Style type of architecture and utilising Jerusalem's traditional white limestone.
Selected projects
Zoltan Harmat designed over 150 architectural projects. All projects are built in Jerusalem unless stated otherwise.
*Designed by Albert Clifford Holliday's architecture firm, with Harmat's contribution:
** British and Foreign Bible Society Building (1926–28), 7 Yohanan MeGush Halav Street, now 8 Safra Square Safra or SAFRA may refer to:
People (surname)
* Alberto J. Safra (born 1979/1980), Brazilian banker
*Edmond Safra (1932–1999), Syrian-Brazilian banker
*Jacob Safra (1891–1963), Syrian banker
*Jacqui Safra (born 1948), Swiss investor and actor
...
, currently housing municipality offices.[
** ]Town Hall
In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...
and Barclays Bank
Barclays () is a British multinational universal bank, headquartered in London, England. Barclays operates as two divisions, Barclays UK and Barclays International, supported by a service company, Barclays Execution Services.
Barclays traces ...
, 22 Jaffa Road (1930)
** St John Ophthalmic Hospital
The St John of Jerusalem Eye Hospital Group is a charitable foundation which operates an ophthalmic hospital in Jerusalem – one of six hospitals in the East Jerusalem Hospitals Network – and satellite eye care clinics and hospitals in the We ...
: renovation of old wing and design of new wing (opened in 1930; since the 1960s it houses the Jerusalem House of Quality)
*Harmat's own projects:
** The home of Hanania, a contractor, 32 Keren Hayesod Street (1931)
** The home of Shalom Horowitz, an attorney, 20 Ahad Ha'am Street, Talbiyeh (1931)
** The home of Braude, an accountant, 22 Ahad Ha'am Street, Talbiyeh (1931)
** The home of Hanna Salameh, a merchant, 2 Balfour Street, Talbiyeh (1932)[ Harmat is wrongly referred to as Hermet.]
** 21 Balfour Street, Talbiyeh[
** The home of ]Oved Ben-Ami
Oved Ben-Ami (July 23, 1905 – October 17, 1988; Hebrew: עובד בן עמי) was an Israeli politician and businessman. He was one of the founders of the cities of Netanya and Ashdod and was a longtime mayor of Netanya. He was also among the ke ...
, the first mayor of Netanya
Netanya (also known as Natanya, he, נְתַנְיָה) is a city in the Northern Central District of Israel, and is the capital of the surrounding Sharon plain. It is north of Tel Aviv, and south of Haifa, between Poleg stream and Wingate I ...
, inspired by the works of Erich Mendelsohn
Erich Mendelsohn (21 March 1887 – 15 September 1953) was a German architect, known for his expressionist architecture in the 1920s, as well as for developing a dynamic Functionalism (architecture), functionalism in his projects for department ...
, originally built in Netanya (1935-1937) but now no longer standing
Gallery
File:JerusalemMunicipalityP4190019.JPG, Bible Society Building, design: A. Clifford Holliday's firm, Jerusalem, 1926–28
File:Sc8.jpg, St. Andrew's Church, design: A. Clifford Holliday's firm, Jerusalem, 1930
File:Ophthalmic Hospital from St. Andrew's Church. between 1934 and 1939. matpc.03759.jpg, Ophthalmic Hospital Jerusalem, new wing seen from St Andrew's Church, design: A. Clifford Holliday's firm, Jerusalem, 1930
File:Barclays building Jerusalem 1939.JPG, Barclays Bank, design: A. Clifford Holliday's firm, Jerusalem, 1939
File:The Salameh House on Balfour Street.jpg, The Salameh House at 2, Balfour Street, 1932 (with new top floors added in the 2010s)
References
Further reading
*
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harmat, Zoltan
1900 births
1985 deaths
Jewish artists
Hungarian Jews
Hungarian architects
Hungarian emigrants to Israel
Israeli architects
Architects in Mandatory Palestine
People from Jerusalem