Jerusalem Pearl hotel palm tree

Jerusalem Pearl Hotel - Built by the Draiman family in 1995

Jerusalem Pearl Hotel
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The Jerusalem Pearl places you right at the heart of Jerusalem, where history and tomorrow meet. Facing you, the golden stones of the Old City and remarkable views of the Citadel of David and Mount Zion. And whether it's the Jaffa Gate, Western Wall or the city's prestigious new commercial hub with its elegant stores, nothing is further than a stroll away.
Elegance and Luxury

Comfortable Lobby

Accommodations:
110 rooms including 22 Luxury Suites
tastefully designed with a full complement
of support services.
Guestrooms accommodate a maximum of 3 persons. Suites are designed for up to 5 persons and comprise a living room with a separate, fully equipped dining area and working corner for business travelers. Suites
All rooms and suites are air-conditioned and include international direct dial telephone, safety deposit boxes and TV.

88 standard rooms facing the New City (floors 1,2,3).
Suites
All suites consist of a living room, bedroom, 2 baths and kitchenette
2 suites facing New City (floors 1,3).
10 suites with a view of the Old City (floors 1,2,3).
5 large deluxe suites facing the New City (floors 1,2,3).
5 Presidential suites facing both the Old and New City
(floors 1,2,3).
Spacious Rooms
Heated Indoor Pool

Why Was a Nazi Flag Flying from a Jerusalem Hotel in the 1930s?

Jaffa Gate was once too small for carriages and boasted a restaurant that later turned into a hotel down the road.

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Lenny Ben David, 31/08/15 13:49

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Hotel Fast, Jerusalem

 INN:LBD

We recently published pictures from the British Library's Endangered Archives Program, including the incredible picture below of Jaffa Gate at Jerusalem's Old City which we have dated to the mid-1890s. Only in 1898 was the wall near Jaffa Gate breached so that carriages could drive into the city.

 
Jaffa Gate and A(braham) Fast's restaurant.  (Debbas Collection, British Library)
We wanted to know more about the store on the left with the sign "A Fast. Restauranteur."  Was this a tourist establishment of Abraham Fast, who in 1907 took over a large hotel several hundred meters to the west of the building pictured above and renamed it "Hotel Fast?"
 
German troops marching in Jerusalem on Good Friday, April 6, 1917. The building on the left is the Fast Hotel. (Imperial War Museum, UK)
It was a leading hotel with 100 rooms, built around a court yard with Ionic, Corinthian and Doric columns.

Hotel Fast and its kosher restaurant was a well-known establishment in Jerusalem for decades, and was probably considered by many to be a Jewish-owned establishment because of its Jewish clientele.

Nothing could be further from the truth.  The Fasts were German Templers.
 
The German consulate in the Fast Hotel, 1933. (Wikimedia, Tamar Hayardeni)

They lived in Jerusalem's German Colony and were exiled by the British after World War I and during World War II because of their support for Germany.
We recently uncovered pictures of German troops marching in Jerusalem streets on Good Friday 1917. Readers were able to identify the building on the left as the Fast Hotel.

Our biggest surprise was finding this picture of the German consulate in the Hotel Fast with the German Swastika flag flying from the building.

During World War II, the hotel was taken over by the British army command and turned into the Australian army club.
 
The Hotel Fast housed Australian soldiers in World War II.  Here they are greeting the Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies and the commander of the Australian troops in Australia, Lt. Gen. Thomas Blamey in February 1941.
The Matson Photo Service, shown on the ground floor, was run by Eric Matson, originally from the American Colony Photographic Department. Matson left Palestine in 1946 for the United States.  His collection of photos were bequeathed to the Library of Congress where many of the pictures in this website were found.  (Library of Congress)

The Hotel Fast building was abandoned in 1967 and torn down in 1976 to make way for the Dan Pearl Hotel.

Jerusalem Pearl hotel palm tree