King David Hotel
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The King David Hotel, built in Jerusalem with locally quarried pink sandstone, was opened in 1931. It was founded by Frank Goldsmith, father of the billionaire investor, Sir James Goldsmith. It once hosted three monarchs who fled their countries: King Alfonso XIII of Spain (1931), Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia (1936) and King George II of Greece (1942). The King David Hotel is Israel's best known 5-star hotel.
The King David Hotel is best remembered as a former administration headquarters of the British Mandate of Palestine, and particularly as the site of the King David Hotel bombing (July 22, 1946). After the bombing this hotel became a British fortress until May 14, 1948, when the Union Jack was lowered upon the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel. It then became an Israeli fortress; however at the end of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, the hotel found itself on the border that separated Israel and Jordan. The hotel was re-opened in 1967, after the Six-Day War, when Israel annexed East Jerusalem.
The King David Hotel is now owned by Dan Hotels, an Israeli hotel company.
