Houses from within

September 14, 2008 - 8:15 PM by Jessica · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Art, General

old arab house.jpg I’ve always been a lover of house tours, having the opportunity to peek in on the homes of the rich, or not-so-rich and famous, to view architectural jewels from the inside, or historic houses with a long story.

Houses From Within is the Israeli version of the open house event, and this coming weekend — Friday, September 19 – Saturday, September 20 — is Jerusalem’s turn to share its wealth of interesting houses (Tel Aviv was back in May.)

There are more than 80 houses and buildings being shown this year, and many have limited spaces available on their tours, so if you’re interested, get yourself signed up.

This year, I’m thinking about visiting the Ot Hamutzar House on Hebron Road, originally designed as a day clinic of St. John’s Hospital (now the Mount Zion Hotel), and which is connected by an underground passageway. I’ll also head toward some of the private homes that don’t require pre-registration, but that are currently lived in by local families. Otherwise, what’s the point if you can’t peek in on someone else’s life? So if you’re a voyeur at heart, this is the event for you. Then again, there are plenty of tours of public edifices, as not all of us are peeping Toms.

Share with others