The architecture of the Templers in their colonies in Eretz-Israel, 1868--1948, and their settlements in the United States, 1860--1925

This study examines a unique architectural phenomenon, namely the German settlement in Eretz-Israel, which begun in the last third of the Nineteenth Century. The importance of this phenomenon is in its considerable influence on later Jewish settlements in terms of modern planning, house design, and building technologies.; The study examines the affinity between the social, religious, and cultural contents of this group, and its expressions in the built form resultantly created. This is among the first documentations of Templer architecture to become public property, detailing the visual attributes, construction technologies, and changes this architecture has experienced in its historical, cultural and social contexts.; This qualitative study is based on the hypotheses that early expressions of this architecture was distinct, that there was evident interaction between Templer builders and planners and their local counterparts, and that this had a marked impact on later Israeli (Jewish) house design. The study utilizes methodologies borrowed from historical and cultural geography, field observations and recordings, and the connections between the historical, cultural and the built-up landscape contexts.; The study identifies architectural elements imported by the Templers from Germany, and those developed in Eretz-Israel, by comparing visual elements on the basis of photographical fieldwork, both in Israel and in Germany. Reference is made to German settlements in the U.S., formed at the same time by non-Templer German immigrants from the same regions in Germany, in order to identify general patterns. One section is devoted to two Templer settlements in the U.S., presenting unpublished data, and comparing the U.S. and Eretz-Israel Templer settlements.; The conclusions of this study characterize the phenomenon of the Templer architecture as a synthesis and result of various interacting forces, pertinent to local circumstances and conditions, which emerged as a new architectural style in the man-made landscape of the Holy Land.; The recommendations of this study: to further the study of the U.S. Templer settlements, to invest means and academic energy in preserving the historic Templer structures in Israel, and to incorporate the subject in architectural education.