Inside the Restoration of the Mussayoff Compound, a Bukharian Family Landmark on Jaffa Road

One of central Jerusalem’s Bukharian landmarks is being restored as part of a hotel project. Open House Jerusalem scheduled two small-group tours of the work for Oct. 16, 2026.

Tour No. 098 in the festival’s official program, “Renewal of the Mussayoff Houses Compound,” was described as a professional tour of the complex work under way at “the active construction site of the Grand Hotel.” Visitors met on Luntz Street, near Jaffa Road, at the site entrance. Two sessions were scheduled that Friday morning, at 8 and 10 a.m., each limited to 20 people with advance registration.

Family home, synagogue and bank

According to the program, the compound was built at the end of the 19th century by Yosef Mussayoff, brother of Shlomo Mussayoff, who was one of the leaders of Jerusalem’s Bukharian community and among the founders of the Bukharian Quarter. It had three buildings and a courtyard: the family lived in one, the second served as a synagogue, and the third housed the “Kupat Am” bank.

The program said the planning team and project manager would present the original and modern building methods used at the site. They would also describe the conservation of the buildings and the synagogue, including restoration of its Aron Kodesh (Torah ark), the infrastructure and reinforcement work now under way, and plans for the future. It credits Rosenshein Architects as project architect and Moshe Shapira Architects as conservation architect, and lists the project as under construction.

What the plan protects

The redevelopment goes back to a 2019 approval. The Israeli real estate site Nadlan Center reported in July 2019 that Jerusalem’s local planning committee had approved an urban renewal plan for the historic compound at 45–47 Jaffa Road, next to the Jaffa Center light rail station. The plan covered about 3.5 dunams (roughly 0.9 acre) and added about 25,000 square meters of commercial, office, hotel and residential space in buildings of eight and 10 stories.

The report said the compound was established at the end of the 19th century by the Bukharian Mussayoff family. Because of its historic sensitivity, and in line with decisions by the city’s conservation committee, major parts were to be preserved. They include a vaulted commercial building, a synagogue that had been active for more than 100 years, the Mussayoff family house, the facades of a British Mandate-era building, and two original Jerusalem courtyards with their paving, cistern, trees and Ottoman-period structures.

A project-management firm involved with the site lists the Grand Hotel at 45 Jaffa Road as a building designated for preservation and still under construction.

This report was translated from Hebrew by Bukharian Jewish Post from the official Open House Jerusalem 2026 program, Nadlan Center and A.D. Rahat Engineering.

Sources: Open House Jerusalem 2026 official program (PDF), tour 098; Nadlan Center (July 25, 2019); A.D. Rahat Engineering: Grand Hotel, 45 Jaffa Road.