Hansen House

Hansen House (Beit Hansen) is a historic building in the Talbiya neighborhood of Jerusalem. It was built as an asylum to care of sufferers of Hansen's disease, also known as leprosy. The large building was designed by German architect Conrad Schick. Construction began in 1874, when the cornerstone of the "Jesus-Hilfe" (With Jesus' Help) asylum was laid. The name is still visible on the façade, above.

Today, the compound hosts a rotating gallery of art exhibitions and is the headquarters of the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design's master's program. Every year, Hansen House hosts Design Week in collaboration with artists and creators from around Israel. The Ofaimme Farm's Coffee House for Sustainable Agriculture was opened in the historic doctor's house. All the food is from an organic farm in the Negev desert. Hadir - The Bar at Hansen, which was opened in 2018, is located in what was once a goat pen, whose dairy products were used to supply the residents of the leper hospital.

The permanent exhibition, 'Behind the Wall', tells the story of the building and its residents.

It seems that Hansen's disease was pretty rife in these parts in the 19th century, which was not at all to the liking of a German aristocrat by the name of Baroness Augusta von Kefenbrinck Ascheraden, who visited Jerusalem with her husband in 1865. Disturbed by the sight of lepers begging at the Old City gates, the baroness raised funds from her wealthy European contacts. With support from the Joint German-Anglican Protestant Church in Jerusalem and the Moravian Church, she helped purchase a plot of land in Mamilla (a neighbourhood of Jerusalem that was established in the late 19th century outside the Old City). However, the sick of Jerusalem were wary of moving to the new asylum for fear of losing the income they scratched together by begging. That was compounded by the fact that the majority of the sufferers were Muslim, and they were concerned they would be forcibly converted to Christianity if they moved into the new refuge. A second, less hospitable and even less successful facility was established by the Ottoman authorities in the district of Bir Ayub in 1875.

Despite all this, the asylum in Mamilla eventually proved to be too small and in 1874 the Moravian Church purchased a vineyard in Talbiya from the Greek Orthodox Church and the construction of a new asylum began. It was completed in 1887 and was designed to take in up to 60 patients and members of staff. The patients were from Muslim, Christian and Jewish communities throughout the country.

In 1950 the asylum was purchased by the Jewish National Fund (JNF) but continued to serve as a leprosy treatment centre through 2000. The Israeli Ministry of Health took over the running of the asylum, renaming it the Hansen Government Hospital (after the physician Gerhard Hansen, who identified the Leprosy bacteria). With the development of an effective cure for leprosy, more patients were rehabilitated and discharged, resulting in the closure of the hospitalization unit.

In 1986, due to the building's significant historical and architectural value, it was declared a preserved building. The facility operated as a day clinic before finally closing down in 2009, when the Israeli government decided to hand over the building to the Jerusalem Municipality, for the purpose of converting it into an interdisciplinary cultural centre. In 2011, the Jerusalem Development Authority (JDA) started the Hansen House preservation project. By the end of 2013, the impressive historical building was reopened to the public as a design, media and technology cultural centre, where academic research, development, education, and public activities could take place.

Fortunately, adding 21st-century hi-tech content did not erase the rich history that had taken place in the building since the 1880s. Under the protection of the JDA, modern floor tiles were removed, to reveal the original, far more aesthetic flooring, as were partitions that the Health Ministry had installed. The beautiful gardens surrounding the building have been conserved and maintained with the rest of the compound. 

One of four water cisterns that formed part of Hansen House’s original infrastructure.

The Tea House, pictured above, is a shell-shaped structure with an intricate mosaic floor that was relocated to the northern courtyard of Hansen House in early 2021. It originally stood beside the pool of Villa Sherover, a historic residence built in 1954 for the affluent Meir Halevy Sherover and his wife Gita in Jerusalem's prestigious Talbiya neighbourhood. Their home was once a vibrant centre for cultural and diplomatic gatherings. Today, the Tea House has been reimagined as a sound gallery, featuring contemporary music and sound-based art.

* This post has been shared on Weekly Wonders, Mosaic Monday