| American Colony Hotel | |
|---|---|
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  Location within Jerusalem | |
| General information | |
| Location | American Colony, One Louis Vincent Street, Jerusalem |
| Coordinates | 31°47′22.88″N35°13′45.76″E / 31.7896889°N 35.2293778°E /31.7896889; 35.2293778 |
| Opening | 1902 |
| Design and construction | |
| Developer | Plato von Ustinov |
| Website | |
| www.americancolony.com | |
TheAmerican Colony Hotel is aluxury hotel located in a historic building inJerusalem which previously housed theutopianAmerican–Swedish community known as theAmerican Colony.
The building was originally built and owned by an Ottoman Pasha Rabbah Daoud Amin Effendi al-Husseini, who lived there with hisharem of four wives. Soon after his fourth marriage, al-Husseini died. In 1895, the building was sold to a Christian group who arrived in Jerusalem in 1881 to set up acommune. Their leader wasHoratio Spafford, a lawyer from Chicago and his wife,Anna.
In 1896, the Americans were joined by two groups of Swedish settlers.[1] This Christian utopian society became known as the American Colony.[2]
In 1902, theJaffa hotelierPlato von Ustinov (grandfather of the British actorPeter Ustinov) was looking for a place to put up guests visiting Jerusalem and asked the Spaffords to accommodate them. Soon after, the building was turned into a hotel.[3]
Today the American Colony Hotel calls itself an oasis of neutrality in the Palestinian–Israeli conflict.[4] It is still owned by descendants of the Spaffords. A grandson, Horatio Vester, was the manager until he retired in 1980.[5] His wife, Valentine, lived in the hotel until her death in June 2008.[6] Since 1980, the hotel has been run by a Swiss company.[7] The Effendis' original bedroom is called "Room One."
The American Colony Hotel, on the "seamline" between east and west Jerusalem, is the preferred hotel of many diplomats, politicians and foreign correspondents.[2] Its famous guests includeJack Greenberg,Leon Uris,T.E. Lawrence,Christiane Amanpour,Winston Churchill,[8]Bob Dylan,Tony Blair,Philip Roth,Eric Frattini, andJohn le Carré. Le Carré wrote one of his books at the hotel, and Frattini included information about the hotel in his second novel,El Laberinto de Agua (The Labyrinth of Water).[2] In 1987,Michael Winner filmed much of the 1930s-set Agatha Christie mysteryAppointment With Death at the hotel. In 1995,Peter Ustinov visited the hotel and planted a palm tree in the courtyard.[3]
Authority control databases: National |
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31°47′22.88″N35°13′45.76″E / 31.7896889°N 35.2293778°E /31.7896889; 35.2293778