Frumin House

Frumin House

From right-left: Ze'ev Sherf, David Ben-Gurion, Moshe Sharett, and Haim-Moshe Shapira sittinig at the government's table in the Chamber at Frumin

Frumin House (Hebrew: בית פרומין, pronounced: Beit Frumin; Better known as: The Old Knesset) was the temporary abode of the Israeli Parliament, the Knesset, between 1950-1966, Prior to the Six-Day War in 1967 (When Israel taken the east and old city of Jerusalem under it's control). The building is located in Jerusalem City-Center, 24 King George Street, and Knesset sessions, from the first to the sixth, were conducted there.

History

The three-story building was named after the Frumin family, whom initiated the construction before the Israeli War of Independence (1948 Arab–Israeli War), for residential and business purposes.

Between 1950-1966

Up until the end of 1949, meetings of the Provisional State Council and the first Knesset sessions were held in Tel Aviv in several places: Tel Aviv Museum of Art in Dizengoff House (today Independence Hall), and in "Kessem" movie house located at "Knesset Square".

On 26 December 1949, the Knesset ascended to Jerusalem. At first, it held its meetings in the the Jewish Agency's building. It was looking for a better place to conduct it's assemblings. After weighing in several options, including the King David Hotel, Frumin House was chosen, a three stories office building whose construction began in 1947 and was not completed. Starting from 13 March 1950, meetings of the Knesset were held in this building. The Chamber was placed in the basement of the building, originally intended to serve as a branch bank.

At times, when meetings were held, King George st. was closed for transportation at the section of the street near the building, which caused great disruption to residents of the city. In addition, the location of the Knesset meetings on a main street in the city-center caused security problems. For example, during the demonstration against the Reparations Agreement between Israel and West Germany in 1952, protesters threw stones at the building, shattering windows and penetrating through the plenum chamber.

On 11 August 1966 the last meeting of the Knesset was held there, prior to its recess. On 30 August 1966, during the term of the Sixth Knesset, the Knesset moved to its new campus in Givat Ram.

In 1956, in a Green garden near the building, on the "Bor Shiber" lot, the Knesset Menorah was set (and the garden was then named the "Gan HaMenora", Hebrew: "גן המנורה", lit. The Garedn of the Lamp). The Menorah was then moved to the Wohl Rose Park when the Knesset building was inaugurated at Givat Ram.

Between 1967-2010

After the departure of the Knesset from that building, it was used by various government agencies. Ministry of Tourism was located in the building until 2004. For now, Bodies of the Ministry of Religious Services resides in the building: the Rabbinical courts of Jerusalem District, and the Great Rabbinical Court of Appeals.

In 2002, the State of Israel] sold the building to a private individual for 10 million Shekel. The new owners filed the District Committee for Planning and Building an application to build on the area of Frumin House a 16-story structure, which practically meant - destroying the original structure.

Following this, the Council for the The Society for Preservation of Israel Heritage Sites (SPIHS) struggled against the intention of demolition. A number of Knesset members sponsered a bill that was passed in 2010, stipulating that the building will be preserved, its interior section will be restored, and a "Museum of the Knesset" will be establishment there. By law, the building was to be confiscated from its owners and handed to the State of Israel, and the owners was to receive NIS 45 million for it.

In 2009, the State Comptroller of Israel published a report dealing with the issue of sale of the Frumin House by the State of Israel and the blunders in the process of its preservation.

See also

Knesset