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 is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...
). 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
The Mandate for Palestine was a League of Nations mandate for British administration of the territories of Palestine and Transjordanwhich had been part of the Ottoman Empire for four centuriesfollowing the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in Wo ...
.[ 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 (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, 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, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 Nazi concentration camps, concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany, occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) d ...
.[
In Palestine Harmat joined a firm led 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 St. Andrew's Church, Church of St Andrew, or variants thereof, may refer to:
Albania
* St. Andrew's Church, Himarë
Australia Australian Capital Territory
* St Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Canberra, founded by John Walker (Presbyterian minis ...
(the "Scottish Church"; 1927), the Town Hall
In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or municipal hall (in the Philippines) is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses the city o ...
on Jaffa Street 22 (1930), the Bible Society House on 7 Yohanan MeGush Halav (John of Giscala
John of Gischala (, ; , 70) was a leader of the first Jewish revolt against the Romans.
History
During the Jewish war with Rome, John of Gischala (), son of Levi (), vied with Josephus over the control of Galilee and amassed a large band of su ...
) 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
The International Style is a major architectural style and movement that began in western Europe in the 1920s and dominated modern architecture until the 1970s. It is defined by strict adherence to Functionalism (architecture), functional and Fo ...
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 Square (, ''Kikar Safra'') is a city square in Jerusalem. It is the site of the Jerusalem Municipality complex, which houses the municipal administration. Safra Square is located in a central part of the city, near the former seam line be ...
, currently housing municipality offices.[
** ]Town Hall
In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or municipal hall (in the Philippines) is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses the city o ...
and Barclays Bank
Barclays PLC (, occasionally ) 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 ...
, 22 Jaffa Road (1930)
** St John Ophthalmic Hospital: 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 , 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) 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 key founders of the Israeli ...
, the first mayor of Netanya
Netanya () () or Natanya (), is a city in the "Planet Bekasi" Central District (Israel), Setanyahu of Israel, Israel BAB ih, and is the capital of the surrounding Sharon plain. It is north of Tel Aviv, and south of Haifa, between the Poleg stre ...
, inspired by the works of Erich Mendelsohn
Erich Mendelsohn (); 21 March 1887 – 15 September 1953) was a German-British architect, known for his expressionist architecture in the 1920s, as well as for developing a dynamic functionalism in his projects for department stores and cinem ...
, 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 Hungarian artists
20th-century Hungarian architects
Hungarian emigrants to Israel
Israeli architects
Architects from Mandatory Palestine
Designers from Jerusalem
Burials at Har HaMenuchot