Roccas house, Heritage site in Brenner Regional Council, Israel
Roccas house is a mansion in the centre of Kibbutz Givat Brenner, built in 1938 in the International Style. Kibbutz member Yaakov Ben-Zvi designed it with engineer Prof. Hibersheim, and the kibbutz building group constructed the two lower floors, containing four apartments for the family. Rooms and floors were added in the 1950s, and a large garden surrounds it.
Roccas House was built in 1938 by Alberto Roccas, an immigrant from Italy whose wife Leah was the sister of Enzo Sereni. It was one of several grand private houses erected around Kibbutz Givat Brenner for families who were not kibbutz members. Leah and Alberto's five children lived there, along with Leah and Enzo's parents, Samuele and Alfonsa Sereni, who arrived from Italy in November 1939, and later Enzo's widow Ada Sereni. The Roccas family left in the 1960s and sold the house to the kibbutz, which left it abandoned.
The house is named after Alberto Roccas, who built it in 1938; his wife Leah was the sister of Enzo Sereni. Her parents, Samuele and Alfonsa Sereni, moved in from Italy in November 1939, and later Enzo's widow Ada Sereni also lived there. The family sold the house to Kibbutz Givat Brenner in the 1960s, and it now stands empty at the centre of a dispute over restoration or demolition.
The house stands in the centre of Kibbutz Givat Brenner and is abandoned, so it cannot be entered; it is seen from the outside, from the paths of the kibbutz. A restoration plan by the Groag Harel architecture office awaits the kibbutz's approval, so its condition may change.
The house was designed by kibbutz member Yaakov Ben-Zvi with engineer Prof. Hibersheim, and built in 1938 by the kibbutz's own construction group; only the two lower floors, holding four family apartments, went up that year, with rooms and floors added in the 1950s.
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