Hi,
This Building is standing there as long as I remember myself, Standing alone on top of the hill while surrounded by growing neighbors. But no one is touching King Hussein Palace or even thinking of building around it. And if one does, Israel is keeping on it as it was her own property.
It is standing on one of the highest points in Northern Jerusalem (837m above sea level) with a beautiful view: From the sea in the West to the Jordanian mountains in the East.
The hill itself is a tell, Tell el-Fūl (“mound of fava beans” in Arabic) and it sometimes considered as the Biblical Hill Of king Saul. Not only a beautiful view but also historical.
I never been up there, to the skeleton of the building: only slabs and columns. It was designed to be King Hussein Summer Palace but the building (started around 1965) was stopped because of Six Day war, when Israel took control of the west bank. I had a work around and decided to finally climb up there.
Take Care
Gad
Climbing the hill to the palace…
The Chalk stone the hill is made of
The skeleton was done, and some of the later works were beginning
The building was designed to have arches (that as you can see are only architectural cover over thin concrete columns)
The slabs are ribs slab – allow big spans as a palace need
The entrance is covered with stones
The shed over the entrance had already collapsed (this is what expected form such a thin concrete slab with no maintenance)
Second floor
Second floor missing column, seems the building has enough redundancy to have a second static scheme
Looking West – you can see Nabi Samwil
Looking south – over Jerusalem
Looking East to Jordan
Looking north to Ramallah
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