Weizmann House

The Weizmann House was built in 1936 as the private home of Dr. Chaim and Dr. Vera Weizmann. They decided to build their home in the Land of Israel in Rehovot, next to the Sieff Institute founded by Dr. Weizmann in 1934, which later became the Weizmann Institute of Science.

The house was designed by a well-known Jewish architect, Erich Mendelsohn, who left Germany when the Nazis rose to power. The Weizmann House was Mendelsohn's first work in the Land of Israel. Mendelsohn wrote, "This is a completely contemporary home… However, it has features of a residence in a sub-tropical climate. In my opinion, this style of house will become popular in the East after two thousand years, just as it was accepted that Judea was a Roman province."

Upon Dr. Weizmann's election as President of Israel, the house became the official residence of the President of Israel. After his death, the official residence moved to Jerusalem. The Weizmanns donated the estate, the house and its contents to the State of Israel, in order to preserve the heritage of the first president.

Architect Erich Mendelsohn

Erich Mendelsohn was a world-famous Jewish architect. He was born on March 21,1887, in Allenstein, Germany. When the Nazis came to power, he moved to England and to the Land of Israel and worked in both countries. In 1942, he immigrated to the U.S. He died on September 15, 1953, in San Francisco. Mendelsohn was considered a giant of modern architecture. In a relatively short period of seven years working in the Land of Israel, he completed several projects. His work is modest, with simple lines but full of grandeur, with "biblical shades" in his words, and with nobility derived from its forms and materials.

Weizmann House Preservation Project

The first renovation was generously funded by the Clore Foundation 1978. The house was opened to the public as a museum. 

In 1999, the conservation work included the Weizmann House, the collections, and various areas of the estate. The restoration work was planned and supervised by the architects Hillel Shocken and Daniel Assayag, with a donation from the Yad Hanadiv Foundation. The conservation and restoration work aimed to restore the house and objects to their character, as they were when the Weizmann couple lived three.

In 2017, additional conservation work was carried out under the supervision of conservation architect Tal Eyal, focusing on strengthening the building.

 The Estate

The physical structure of the garden was designed by the house architect, Erich Mendelsohn, as an integral part of the house. The vegetation was planned by the park architect, Shlomo Weinberg-Oren, from Kibbutz Yagur, who planned several parks, including the Yad Hanadiv Park in Zichron Yaakov.

The idea of the two architects was to establish a Mediterranean garden around the Weizmann House. Most of the plants in the garden are native to the Mediterranean, some are from Israel, and some were imported to Israel.

The location of some trees in the gardens and the division between the lawns still exist today according to Shlomo Weinberg-Oren's plan.

The Grave Site

Dr. Chaim Weizmann asked to be buried on the estate next to his home.  Upon his death, the headstone was designed with the simple inscription, "Chaim Weizmann." In his will, Weizmann asked for a simple grave,  ".. I was always a simple Jew from Motol, and that's how I want to remain after my death…"

Dr. Vera Weizmann asked to replace the original headstone, a marble stone bearing Weizmann's name and dates of his birth and death.  Vera wished to be buried next to her husband. She wanted the headstone to mention their private grief about the death of their youngest son, Michael, who was killed in World War II. The new headstone was designed according to the Tomb of the Missing Soldier in England, in 1962. It was designed by sculptor Moshe Ziffer. Engraved in the center of the stone is the emblem of the Weizmann Institute of Science, which was designed by Erich Mendelsohn at the request of Dr. Weizmann as the logo of the Sieff Institute. The emblem is engraved between the names of the Weizmanns.

The Presidential Car

In 1950, Henry Ford II presented Dr. Chaim Weizmann with a Ford Lincoln Cosmopolitan, one of 18 cars specially designed for the U.S. President. The car became the official vehicle of the State President. After Dr. Weizmann's death in 1952, the car was put on display at the Weizmann House. Over time, due to exposure to the elements, the vehicle's glory faded. Delek Motors, the importer and distributor of the Ford Lincoln in Israel, worked with the Ford company in the United States, to restore and preserve the car. The work took 13 months, and then the vehicle was returned to a special display structure designed by architect Hillel Shocken.

The Memorial Plaza

The Plaza was built in the early 1960s as a memorial to Chaim Weizmann. In 1972, the Memorial to the Holocaust by Dani Karavan was placed there. The monument is made of chalkstone and bears a Scroll of the Law (Sefer Torah). The stone itself, weighing 22 tons and 2 meters high, was mined in Israel. The Scroll of the Law was cast in bronze in Italy. The scroll is 1 meter high and weighs 9 tons. Engraved on the stone is an extract from Dr. Weizmann's eulogy for Holocaust victims, which he delivered in a speech at the 1946 Zionist Congress.  This was the first Congress after the War and the Holocaust, and the last one at which Weizmann as President of the Zionist Federation.