Villa Salameh, Art Deco building in Talbiya, Jerusalem, Israel

Villa Salameh stands on Ord Wingate Square in Talbiya, Jerusalem. The four-storey Art Deco house, one level underground, covers about 1,300 square metres and keeps its 1930s appearance. Its entrance hall has a double-height space and a gallery floor paved in two-tone Carrara marble, with a sunken fountain at the centre of the house. It holds about 30 rooms, each bedroom with an adjoining bathroom clad in Carrara marble from Italy, and a small lift carried food from the kitchen to the reception room.

Constantine Salameh, a Christian Arab businessman and co-founder of Talbiya, built the villa in 1935. He hired French architect Marcel Favier, who had designed the French consulate in Jerusalem, and asked for a house unlike any other in the Middle East, which earned it the name "Salameh's Palace". In February 1948 Salameh left the country and rented the house to Belgian consul Jan Nieuwenhuys; during the war the foreign consuls' truce committee met inside.

The villa is still occupied by Belgium's consuls, who maintain it and replace worn carpets with luxury ones. Jerusalemites call Wingate Square, where it stands, "Salameh Square" to this day. The entrance on the hidden side bears the letters S.C., the owner's initials.

The building is located in the Talbiya district within walking distance of Jerusalem's City Center and the German Colony neighborhood. Its position allows visitors to explore the surrounding area easily.

In 1981 the businessman David Sofer, holding power of attorney from Salameh, sold all of Salameh's Israeli properties to the state for 700,000 dollars, with an undertaking that he would receive the house itself. After about 20 years and a petition to the High Court, an agreement leased the villa to Sofer's writers' fund for 200 years.