Mandate period building in Beer Yaakov, Mandate period building in Beer Yaakov, Israel.

This Mandate period structure in Beer Yaakov displays symmetrical windows and a central entrance on its facade. The construction blends British colonial design features with local building materials while retaining its original exterior.

The five-storey, 150-room building was erected by the Supreme Muslim Council as an orphanage for children orphaned in the 1936–39 Arab Revolt. On completion the British army requisitioned it as an officers' school within Sarafand camp, and it closed in February 1947. In March 1948 Hassan Salameh made it his headquarters; the Palmach blew up two-thirds of it on 5 April 1948, and it later served as an IDF base until the late 1990s.

The building's Arabic name, Maqam Hassan Salama, recalls the commander who made it his headquarters in March 1948. Local accounts also remember the orphanage it was meant to be, funded by the Supreme Muslim Council for children orphaned in the 1936-1939 revolt. Visitors can still see the southern wing, the only part left standing after the April 1948 explosion.

The building is located near the center of Beer Yaakov and is easy to reach. You can view the exterior facade and observe its architectural details from the street.

A German doctor present in the building when it was blown up in April 1948 later wrote a memoir: a prisoner of war who escaped in Egypt, he was recruited by the Muslim Brotherhood and smuggled into Palestine four months earlier with six other Germans. He claimed Hassan Salameh ignored advice to uproot the surrounding trees and build a perimeter fence.