The Yhudaioff House (also spelled Yehudayoff) is the most magnificent and impressive residential building constructed in the early 20th century in the Bukharian Quarter of Jerusalem. It was sometimes called ‘The Palace’— perhaps because it was inspired by the Palazzo Medici in Florence.
Other times, it was incorrectly called ‘The House of the Messiah’ (from a legendary story in S.Y. Agnon’s book Shira) and ‘The Yhudaioff-Heffetz House’ (due to a misunderstanding by Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, who observed the Hefetz family managing construction in 1910 of a family house on the same street). However, the house properly belongs to the Yhudaioff brothers and business partners, Elisha and David from Kokand, Uzbekistan.
The brothers became extremely wealthy from the production and trade in cotton and silk, and decided to build their house in Jerusalem to use for visits to the Holy City during their pilgrimages. However, by the time they made this decision, there were no more vacant plots left in the Bukharian Quarter and they had to buy an adjacent elongated piece of land, which dictated the house’s layout. This is the reason for the deviation of Yhudaioff House property from the original outline of the quarter. The house was built between 1905 and 1913 and the construction was entrusted to Elisha’s father-in-law and brother-in-law, Israel and Zvi Hefetz, since they were Jerusalemites while Elisha and David remained in Kokand.
Building the House
The house measured 65 feet by 180 feet (about 11,700 square feet). It was designed by an Italian architect in European style. It features decorative elements of Italian origin, including Italian marble columns and tiling from Italy.
The two-story building has a central corridor on each of its two floors, with entrances to large rooms on both sides. The exterior of the building is richly decorated with reliefs, arched doorways for double-leaf doors, windows with arched frames, and ornate balconies.
The building has openings on four sides. The main entrance is in its north façade, where sealed openings are incorporated, designed for future shops. All are decorated in the Italian Renaissance style with the integration of Jewish elements like Stars of David. The large balconies are supported by carved stone supports shaped like scrolls and elaborate frames were carved around the windows.
The house complex includes eastern and western courtyards with gardens and trees some remain to this day, all surrounded by a stone wall. Beneath the western courtyard, there is an auxiliary structure used for managing the site during the building.
The main entrance is on the northern façade and it leads to the ground-floor vestibule and from there to a long corridor. On both sides of the corridor the doorways to the rooms have reddish marble frames, and above each opening is a decorated arch with a stylized window. The ceiling of the corridor and the ground-floor rooms are each vaulted. Internal stairs lead to the second floor which was the residential floor. Yet, the main entrance to the upper floor is from the east. A path from outside gate is leading to two curved sets of stairs and up to the entrance balcony of the house. The doorposts of the entrance were decorated with Star of David reliefs. On its west side this floor also has a service exit leading down to the street.
Two large rooms on the second floor were used one as the family’s dining room and the other for Passover Seders and for receptions. The first has a roof of glass and floor of marble slabs. This hall was partially open to the sky at times, the second was a large hall, four meters long, with three arches on marble columns that divided the hall into two spaces. The central arch features a Star of David relief. The side arches are decorated with symbolic zodiac signs. At the back of the hall are doors leading to an external balcony. In the ceiling there are Star of David reliefs with the word «Zion» in Hebrew. The hall’s walls are adorned with frescoes.
All the ceilings on the upper floor are flat and decorated with rich murals painted by the famous muralist S. Melnick. The paintings in the building include landscapes of the Holy Land alongside European landscapes and inscriptions in Hebrew.
The flat roof of the house is reached by internal stairs. It is decorated by Italian Renaissance-style stone vases. On the roof is a pyramidal glass structure, which is the ceiling of the dining room, which was moved during the summer on iron rails, creating an open-air atrium. Every Sukkot holiday, they placed a ‘Schach’, over the opening, turning the room into a sukkah, considered by many to be the best sukkah in the Quarter, covered with Suzani embroideries and carpets.
The Yhudaioff House was sometimes used for public purposes. For example, in 1918, a reception was held there for the British General Sir Edmund H.H. Allenby, the liberator of the Land of Israel from the Ottoman Turks.
In February 1921, the founding conference of the Chief Rabbinate was held there in the presence of dignitaries from the Jewish community and High Commissioner Herbert Samuel. At the conference, the first Chief Rabbis of the Land of Israel were elected.
The Family’s Residence
Until the Bolshevik Revolution, David and Elisha lived on their shared estate in Kokand and managed their prosperous businesses. Following the revolution, their house and all their property were nationalized, and they were forced to flee for their lives. Elisha and his family escaped to Bukhara, while David and his family fled to Samarkand with the intention of finding a way to reach their house in Jerusalem. They arrived in Jerusalem in small groups, as they had the ability to leave Uzbekistan and enter Palestine. The first to arrive in 1922 were Elisha’s wife with some of his children. At that time, the building was leased to an orphanage, which had to vacate the upper floor for the family. Over more than a decade, the rest of the family members arrived. Only David died abroad and could not come as he was very ill. His only heir, Mashiach, arrived only in 1937 after years of exile in Siberia. In 1940, Elisha passed away, and the last of the family members left the house in 1948.
Dr. Rachel Barkay, an archaeologist and lecturer in Israel, is the great-granddaughter of both David and Elisha Yhudaioff.
By Dr. Rachel Barkay