‘Uniting the Nation’s Various Limbs into a National Body’ the Jerusalem People’s House

The article reveals the Jerusalem People’s House as both a structure and an institution, from its conception to its construction, based on materials published here for the first time; and locates it within the desires and limitations of a community that saw itself as a nation-builder and the house as a national crucible. This is an extreme example of the affinity between a national body and an architectural one, an affinity that characterizes the building of many people’s houses in Eretz Israel. The article claims that, in Jerusalem, this affinity motivated a drive towards an architectural masterpiece, while in the balance of creative fantasy versus function, the very same affinity ultimately dictated a simple, utilitarian architectural formula.