Since its opening in January 1931, Jerusalem’s stately King David Hotel has presided over 61 years of turbulent history in the city to which its name is so inextricably linked.
A parade of luminaries has marched through its doors, including the crowned heads of Europe, kings and emperors, deposed tyrants and besmirched presidents, Hollywood stars and Zionist powerbrokers.
Meanwhile, it has served as temporary asylum for three world leaders fleeing their homelands: Alfonso VIII of Spain, forced to abdicate in 1931; Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia, chased out by the Italians in 1936; and George II of Greece, who set up his government-in-exile at the King David in 1942 after the Nazis overran his nation.
The King David is also, in the words of one employee, the only hotel in the world to have been blown up by a future prime minister — Menachem Begin.
Wheeled into the basement of the La Regence grillroom inside six milk cans, the Irgun bomb of July 22, 1946 destroyed the southwest corner of the hotel, killing 91 people and decimating the administrative and military center of British Mandatory rule.
The hotel closed for two years following the bombing. It reopened with the establishment of the state of Israel, only to sink into economic doldrums during the austerity programs of the early 1950s. At one point in early 1956, the entire staff was asked to leave and the hotel shut its doors for several months.
The Federmann family, owners of the prestigious Dan Hotel chain, acquired the King David later that year. Substantial investments in renovating the hotel finally paid off with Jerusalem’s reunification in 1967, when it stood ready to welcome the hordes of visitors who descended upon the city.
During the 1960s, African leaders and U.N. peacemakers gathered in the King David’s meeting rooms. The Presidential Suite frequently hosted former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger during his “shuttle diplomacy” jaunts in 1974 and 1975.
Certainly the most heralded guest was Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, whose four-day stay in November, 1977 broke the 30-year Arab boycott on official travel to Israel. The day before Sadat’s arrival, the first direct telephone link was established between Cairo and Jerusalem, operating from the King David’s Presidential Suite.
Walk through the heavy revolving door into the hotel’s lobby, and you find yourself in another time.
The King David Hotel is a solid building in the stubbornly British manner, filled with dark wood and heavy potted plants. Yet the sturdy pillars and plastered ceilings are decorated with whimsical Oriental motifs, drawn from ancient Near Eastern art and architecture — lending the hotel a distinctly Middle Eastern flavor. Jewish influences appear in the pomegranates, curling vines and stars of David used as recurring room decorations.
Out on the back terrace, a careful examination of the hotel’s rear facade reveals a kind of half-floor between the fourth and fifth floors, lined with narrow openings and punctuated with what appear to be bullet holes. They are bullet holes.
From 1948 to 1967, the hotel sat directly on the border with Jordan, acting both as a strategic lookout point for the Israeli army and as a tempting target for Jordanian sharpshooters. The deluxe suites on this side of the hotel, now much in demand for their magnificent Old City views, were less desirable in those years.
“Like a great bottle of wine, the King David improves with age,” says Yossi Heksch, general manager of the hotel for the past nine years.
The hotel’s clientele has changed over the years, said Robert Gabby, head concierge, who has worked at the hotel since his arrival in the country in 1951. “People were more patient in the old days. They listened to each other and took things slowly,” he says. “Today, people expect more, they demand more, and they want it right away.”
The hotel’s main challenge these days is to provide the modern amenities demanded by its new, jet-set clientele without sacrificing its old-world charm. Mobile phones are now available to guests on request, along with fax machines.
High-speed elevators will soon replace the stately models that were once operated by young “lift boys” like Gabby. And a helicopter pad sits atop the hotel roof.
Renovations will continue for the next three or four years. “But we’ll keep the classical style, because that’s the King David,” Fiona Semberg emphasizes. “Our style is very much an understated elegance.”