View more on this topic

Photo Album

From Utopia to Luxury: The Transformative Tale of the American Colony Hotel in Jerusalem

October 5, 2025

1/ 16

Members and guests of the American Colony pictured in the hotel’s salon reading, Jerusalem, in 1890

Credit:

Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division [ppmsca-15830, ppmsca-15831]

A view of Bethlehem on Christmas Day 1898. The photo was captured by members of the photo department who took to recreating biblical scenes through photography. This staged scene depicts Mary and Joseph, as they approached Bethlehem some 1,900 years earlier.

Credit:

Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division [LC-DIG-matpc-09156]

The main building of the American Colony in Jerusalem, taken some time between 1950 and 1977

Credit:

Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division [LC-DIG-matpc-22831]

A photo taken by a member of the American Colony photo department shows a Palestinian woman from Ramallah on the upper balcony above the building’s courtyard, dressed in a traditional thobe with a jar on her head, ca. 1900.

Credit:

Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division [ LC-DIG-matpc-06860]

The hotel’s lobby in the early 1900s with ceramic mosaic tiles decorating its walls, Jerusalem

Credit:

The American Colony hotel’s Facebook page

American Colony members with friends from what appears to be an Arab Bedouin tribe, outside the original entrance of the American Colony building on Nablus Road, ca. 1902

Credit:

Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division [LC-DIG-ppmsca-15830]

A hand-painted image of the American Colony store, Fr Vester Co, with Frederick Vester standing out front, ca. 1905. Vester was a Swiss German member of the colony and husband of Bertha Spafford.

Credit:

Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division [LC-DIG-ds-03112]

A woman tending the American Colony’s farm, with a man on horseback in the background, ca. 1912. As shown in the picture, the farm housed animals, including cows, horses, and buffaloes.

Credit:

The American Colony hotel’s document

The American Colony nurses gathered for a picture in the hotel’s courtyard during World War I, with Frederick Vester and Bertha Spafford Vester (daughter of Horatio and Anna) at the center, ca. 1915.

Credit:

Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division [https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/ms010123.mamcol.066]

A photo documenting Jerusalem’s surrender to the British on December 9, 1917. Holding the flag of surrender, which was made using an American Colony bed sheet, is Jerusalem mayor Hussein Effendi al-Husseini. The flag is now on display at the Imperial War Museum in London.

Credit:

Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division [LC-DIG-matpc-02218]

Matriarch Anna Spafford watering flowers in the central courtyard of the American Colony, Jerusalem, taken between 1923 and 1925

Credit:

Wikimedia Commons

A group photo of American Colony members, both founders and newcomers, in front of the Palm House after the building’s expansion, ca. 1924

Credit:

The American Colony Hotel’s Facebook page

Two women make lace on a balcony at the American Colony overlooking the Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem, 1930.

Credit:

Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division [https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/ms010123.mamcol.054]

General Edmund Allenby in the courtyard of the American Colony, 1934. Lord Allenby, who led the British Empire’s campaign against the Ottoman Empire in the conquest of Palestine and captured Jerusalem in 1917, was a regular guest at the American Colony.

Credit:

The American Colony Hotel’s Facebook page

The hotel’s current lobby, furnished with Arabesque-style wooden chairs and tables, is where the pasha used to hold court and receive guests, Jerusalem, 2023.

Credit:

The American Colony hotel’s website

The American Colony hotel’s current courtyard, with dense vegetation and a fountain still standing at the center

Credit:

The American Colony hotel’s website

The American Colony in Sheikh Jarrah, Jerusalem, a luxury five-star hotel today, was once a palace built by a Palestinian pasha where he lived with his four wives. The palace was also home to a Utopian Christian community who set sail from the United States to Jerusalem in search of peace, and in anticipation of the Messiah’s return, which they believed was imminent.

In 1881, Americans Horatio and Anna Spafford decided to leave their hometown of Chicago, Illinois, following several tragic events they endured, including the death of their four daughters and the loss of their investments in the Great Chicago Fire. Joined by 16 other members from their church, they called themselves “the overcomers,” and moved to Jerusalem where they would await Judgment Day. They settled in a house in the Old City, but with the community growing and welcoming over 100 new American and Swedish believers, the American Colony needed a larger property. They purchased a palace that belonged to Pasha Rabbah Daoud Amin Effendi al-Husseini and his four wives. The building would later be turned into the American Colony Hotel (the Old Wing) and extended into two opposite buildings (the East House and Palm House).1

The transformation from a commune’s lodging into a hotel that hosted famous guests from around the globe, including celebrities, diplomats, politicians, and military generals, was made possible because of Russian German aristocrat Baron Plato von Ustinov, who was looking for suitable accommodation for his foreign guests, and whose expectations went beyond what the Turkish inns of the time offered.

Graham Greene, Sir Winston Churchill, Lawrence of Arabia, Joan Baez, Lord Allenby, John Le Carré, Robert De Niro, Bob Dylan, Giorgio Armani, and Mikhail Gorbachev are some of the famous names who visited the hotel.2

In addition to the hotel’s numerous features, one of its most lingering contributions is its photo department, the Matson Photo Service, which documented a period of Jerusalem’s history and garnered public interest.

This Photo Album features some of the works released by the Matson Photo Service, in addition to images of the American Colony since its establishment to the present day. With a history extending over more than a century, the hotel and its pictures reveal many stories about a time that preceded Jerusalem’s fragmentation and when the city was an oasis for people of all nationalities, faiths, and races.

For an in-depth history and more photos, see The Unusual Origins of an Iconic East Jerusalem Hotel.