American Colony Hotel is a luxurious stay in Jerusalem

I always thought the King David Hotel was the swankiest address in Jerusalem. During his presidential campaign, then-Sen. Barack Obama stayed in this 1930s icon just west of the Old City. So did President Bush in his January visit.

But then I had dinner at the American Colony Hotel, an enchanted place on a hilltop about a 20-minute walk north of the Old City’s Damascus Gate. It is just as luxurious as the King David and has a happier history (Zionist extremists bombed the King David in 1946), although it didn’t start that way.

A group of American and Swedish settlers founded the American Colony in the late 1800s. They were led to the Holy Land by Anna and Horatio Spafford of Chicago, whose four daughters died in 1873 when the Ville du Havre, the ship carrying Anna and the girls, sank. Anna, somehow, survived.

In Jerusalem the settlers lived communally and did the work of missionaries. They opened a school for Arab and Jewish children and a hospital.

As the community grew, it moved to a sumptuous villa built by a local pasha, and it is that palace that is now the American Colony Hotel.

After the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, the hotel became part of the territory ruled by Jordan, but it reverted to Israel in 1967. During sporadic hostilities it remained neutral ground where Arab and Jewish wounded were treated.

A photo display in the hotel lobby chronicles the history of the American Colony. It has a gorgeous swimming pool and formal restaurant, a smoky bar where one imagines espionage, and a brasserie with a fireplace where I had a delicious entrec�te and a glass of Israeli Merlot.

Rates for doubles start around $275, but it’s well worth going to see the place even if you aren’t going to stay.

Info: www.americancolony.com

susan.spano@latimes.com