At Beit Immanuel you can visit our heritage center known as the Baron’s Palace Heritage Center, after Baron von Ustinov (grandfather of Peter Ustinov).
The heritage center is located in one of the former rooms of the Hotel du Parc and is in the form of a former Palace room resplendent with chandeliers etc. It is dedicated to the history of this most famous building, as well as the former American and German colonies where it is located, and forms part of a bigger story – the gentile Contribution to the development of Jaffa and the area.
Beit Immanuel was one of the first buildings outside the walls of ancient Jaffa, and throughout its colourful history has hosted such people as Kaiser Wilhelm II and his wife Augusta Victoria and many other notable guests when it was the main hotel in Jaffa. Baron Ustinov had the first botanical garden and zoo in the land, boasting monkeys and colourful parrots.
In the 20th century it was used by CMJ as a school, commandeered by the British Army, and then the Israeli army, and then in the 1970’s was the focal point of the emerging Israeli Messianic movement.
Included in the presentation at Beit Immanuel is the opportunity, for groups, to view some unique old glass slides with a glass slide projector, and to sit in the soon to be restored Baron’s Garden Coffee Shop.