Elma Arts Complex

To comprehend the wonder of Elma Arts Complex Luxury Hotel one must first understand the passion of Lily Elstein, the esteemed philanthropist and arts patron behind the stunning property. “Elma is a place where those who enter its doors can find art in every corner and at every moment,” she says, and truer words have not been spoken.

A descendant of the founders of Zichron Ya’akov (1882), the seaside Israeli village where Elma is located, Elstein has devoted much of her life to community work in two chief fields: the absorption of immigrants and the promotion of culture. Now, with Elma, she has realized another dream: to meld luxury hospitality with a thriving world-class cultural center, while at the same time breathing new life into a near-forgotten architectural masterpiece.

After eight years of extensive planning and construction, the Mivtachim Sanitarium, Yaakov Rechter’s Israel award-winning masterwork of postwar Brutalism, reopened as the Elma Arts Complex Luxury Hotel, an innovative property set on the rim of Israel’s Mount Carmel overlooking vast sloping forests and the deep blue Mediterranean Sea. Located some 70 kilometers up the coastline from Tel Aviv and offering 95 spacious, opulently outfitted guestrooms. As well as not one, but two state-of-the-art performance halls. Acoustic engineering specialists Arup/Artec designed the 450-seat Elma Hall, which houses two Steinway grand pianos and a 1,414-pipe organ, created by the acclaimed German manufacturer Orgelbau Klais, the most advanced of its kind to be built in Israel. There’s also the smaller, more intimate Cube Hall, which seats 200. And these spaces get plenty of use as monthly concert programs at Elma feature a wide-range of acclaimed orchestras, chamber choirs, jazz ensembles, and world- music artists from Israel and around the globe.

Elma feels as much like a cultural hotspot as a luxury hotel. Elma (an acronym for Elstein Music and Art) also features the locally sourced Oratorio restaurant, indoor and outdoor pools, and a sumptuous spa.

The hotel itself exudes the signatures of high modernism—exposed cement, clean white lines, natural walnut furnishings. Echoed the undulating subtlety of the façade of Rechter’s Brutalist masterpiece. Now, as the Elma, it showcases modular, concrete units that seem to hug the curves of Mount Carmel.

Upon entering Elma, one discovers terrazzo floor tiles, cement surfaces, and oak highlights that emanate restrained elegance. A careful selection of mobile furniture—sofas and benches of white leather, oak and walnut stools, and black, minimalist patio furniture—harmonizes with the building’s clean design, while spacious rooms, suites, and free- standing cottages are all opulently outfitted with a carefully curated selection of original artworks, fabrics and other materials. The placement of the furniture and an abundance of balconies and terraces invite guests to immerse themselves in the breathtaking views of those surrounding forests along Mount Carmel and the vast Mediterranean Sea beyond, perfectly framed by Rechter’s original room partitions.

Taken together, there’s not a single wrong note at Elma Arts Complex Luxury Hotel. Just art in every corner, in every moment, and in every way that Lily Elstein has devoted her life—and her new hotel—to creating. ELMA Arts Complex Luxury Hotel would have it no other way