Architecture
Many of the buildings on Emek Refaim date from Ottoman and British Mandate times. Some of the distinctive German Templer buildings are still standing, as are elegant villas that belonged to wealthy Arabs before the establishment of the State of Israel.
Some homes in the area were abandoned by local Palestinians or expropriated after 1948, and many issues of property ownership and displacement have yet to be resolved. A former Arab resident of the Bauerle House, located at 10 Emek Refaim (originally built by the Templers), wrote about a painful visit to her home after 1967.
A movie theater, Smadar, on the corner of Emek Refaim and Lloyd George Street, was built during the British Mandate, when it was known as the Regent or the Orient. At the corner of Emek Refaim, on a hill overlooking the Hinnom Valley, is the Scottish Church of St. Andrew's, built in 1927 and incorporating local Armenian tile-work. Similar tiling can be seen on the facades of some buildings on Emek Refaim.
The residents of Emek Refaim have banded together to protest plans to build a hotel and residential towers in the area, which would affect the historic character of the neighborhood.
Read more about this topic: Emek Refaim
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