1.
Benjamin Netanyahu
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Benjamin Bibi Netanyahu is the current Prime Minister of Israel. Netanyahu also currently serves as a member of the Knesset and Chairman of the Likud party, born in Tel Aviv to secular Jewish parents, Netanyahu is the first Israeli prime minister born in Israel after the establishment of the state. Netanyahu joined the Israel Defense Forces shortly after the Six-Day War in 1967, Netanyahu took part in many missions, including Operation Inferno, Operation Gift and Operation Isotope, during which he was shot in the shoulder. Netanyahu achieved the rank of captain before being discharged, after graduating from MIT with Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees, Netanyahu was recruited as an economic consultant for the Boston Consulting Group. Netanyahu returned to Israel in 1978 to found the Yonatan Netanyahu Anti-Terror Institute, named after his brother Yonatan Netanyahu, Netanyahu served as the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations from 1984 to 1988. Netanyahu became the leader of Likud in 1993, Netanyahu won the 1996 elections, becoming Israels youngest ever Prime Minister, serving his first term from June 1996 to July 1999. Netanyahu moved from the arena to the private sector after being defeated in the 1999 election for prime minister by Ehud Barak. As Minister of Finance, Netanyahu engaged in a reform of the Israeli economy. Netanyahu retook the Likud leadership in December 2005, after Sharon left to form a new party, in December 2006, Netanyahu became the official Leader of the Opposition in the Knesset and Chairman of Likud. Following the 2009 parliamentary election, in which Likud placed second and right-wing parties won a majority, after the victory in the 2013 elections, he became the second person to be elected to the position of Prime Minister for a third term, after Israels founder David Ben-Gurion. In March 2015, Netanyahu was elected to his term as prime minister. Netanyahu has been elected Prime Minister of Israel four times, matching David Ben-Gurions record, Netanyahu is the only prime minister in Israels history to have been elected three times in a row. Netanyahu was born in 1949 in Tel Aviv, Israel, to an Israeli mother, Tzila Segal and a Warsaw-born father, Prof. Benzion Netanyahu, Netanyahu is of mixed Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jewish heritage. He was initially raised and educated in Jerusalem, where he attended Henrietta Szold Elementary School, to this day, he speaks fluent English, with a noticeable Philadelphia accent. After graduating from school in 1967, Netanyahu returned to Israel to enlist in the Israel Defense Forces. He trained as a soldier and served for five years in an elite special forces unit of the IDF. He took part in numerous cross-border assault raids during the 1967–70 War of Attrition and he was wounded in combat on multiple occasions. He was involved in other missions, including Operation Inferno
2.
Jerusalem
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Jerusalem is a city located on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is considered a city in the three major Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. During its long history, Jerusalem has been destroyed at least twice, besieged 23 times, attacked 52 times, the part of Jerusalem called the City of David was settled in the 4th millennium BCE. In 1538, walls were built around Jerusalem under Suleiman the Magnificent, today those walls define the Old City, which has been traditionally divided into four quarters—known since the early 19th century as the Armenian, Christian, Jewish, and Muslim Quarters. The Old City became a World Heritage Site in 1981, and is on the List of World Heritage in Danger, Modern Jerusalem has grown far beyond the Old Citys boundaries. These foundational events, straddling the dawn of the 1st millennium BCE, the sobriquet of holy city was probably attached to Jerusalem in post-exilic times. The holiness of Jerusalem in Christianity, conserved in the Septuagint which Christians adopted as their own authority, was reinforced by the New Testament account of Jesuss crucifixion there, in Sunni Islam, Jerusalem is the third-holiest city, after Mecca and Medina. As a result, despite having an area of only 0, outside the Old City stands the Garden Tomb. Today, the status of Jerusalem remains one of the issues in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, West Jerusalem was among the captured and later annexed by Israel while East Jerusalem, including the Old City, was captured. Israel captured East Jerusalem from Jordan during the 1967 Six-Day War and subsequently annexed it into Jerusalem, one of Israels Basic Laws, the 1980 Jerusalem Law, refers to Jerusalem as the countrys undivided capital. All branches of the Israeli government are located in Jerusalem, including the Knesset, the residences of the Prime Minister and President, the international community does not recognize Jerusalem as Israels capital, and the city hosts no foreign embassies. Jerusalem is also home to some non-governmental Israeli institutions of importance, such as the Hebrew University. In 2011, Jerusalem had a population of 801,000, of which Jews comprised 497,000, Muslims 281,000, a city called Rušalim in the Execration texts of the Middle Kingdom of Egypt is widely, but not universally, identified as Jerusalem. Jerusalem is called Urušalim in the Amarna letters of Abdi-Heba, the name Jerusalem is variously etymologized to mean foundation of the god Shalem, the god Shalem was thus the original tutelary deity of the Bronze Age city. The form Yerushalem or Yerushalayim first appears in the Bible, in the Book of Joshua, according to a Midrash, the name is a combination of Yhwh Yireh and the town Shalem. The earliest extra-biblical Hebrew writing of the word Jerusalem is dated to the sixth or seventh century BCE and was discovered in Khirbet Beit Lei near Beit Guvrin in 1961. The inscription states, I am Yahweh thy God, I will accept the cities of Judah and I will redeem Jerusalem, or as other scholars suggest, the mountains of Judah belong to him, to the God of Jerusalem
3.
Katamon
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Katamon or Qatamon is a neighbourhood in south-central Jerusalem, Israel. The official Hebrew name, Gonen, is used in municipal publications. Katamon is derived from the Greek kata tōi monastēriōi. e, in 1524, after the Ottoman Turks conquered the region from the Mamluks, it was reported that a church of St Simeon, previously held by the Georgians, was now empty in the wake of Muslim attacks. The Greek Orthodox acquired the site in 1859 and in 1881 they built there a new church and residence for their Patriarch, in 1890 the Greek–Orthodox patriarch Nicodemus I of Jerusalem built his summer house near the monastery. The neighborhood began to develop in the late Ottoman Era, in the early 1900s, according to Israeli geographer Gideon Biger, Katamon was probably planned before World War I. The lands in Katamon, like in Talbiya and Baka, were owned by the Greek Orthodox Church of Jerusalem, in the late 19th century the church had a financial crisis which worsened during World War I. The Church sold, shortly before the war, some of its estate outside of the Old City, which were deemed as less holy including Katamon, fresh air and an affordable price. Provided, however, you continue to pay this small amount. If you want to more than one plot, you are allowed to do so. And when the raffle take place, you may win adjacent plots, German aerial photographs taken during the war show building lots demarcated by stones at Katamon in a grid plan way, and a system of dirt roads. Despite the low prices, the neighborhood did not attract Jewish buyers because the area was completely Christian, next to the Greek Colony, German Colony, until the war five houses were built in Katamon. During the 1920s, some 90 new residential plots were planned in Katamon and their construction began shortly after the war, in a short time, some 40 luxurious buildings were built in the neighborhood, by Christian–Arab families. The buildings were built in plan for different blocs and not for the entire neighborhood, about half of Katamons buildings were built between 1927 and 1937, and the rest were built until 1948. Most of Katamons residents were mostly educators, teachers, businessmen, contractors, traders and other professionals from the upper, along with private houses, apartment buildings were built for the purpose of rent. The neighborhood developed into a prosperous, bourgeois neighborhood with a European–Cosmopolitan character whilst retaining the local, oriental culture, most of the builders were Arab–Christians from the Greek–Orthodox community, headed by Issa Michael al-Toubbeh, but among them were some Latin rite Catholics and Armenian Protestants. A phenomenon which contributed to the cosmopolitan character was intermarriage between different Christian communities. The apartments were rented to Arab people and British officials, army officers and their families, most of the children were sent to high quality and expensive schools, usually private ones. The schools teaching languages were usually English, Italian, German or French, the members of the Greek–Orthodox community lived a secular lifestyle, visiting churches only on holidays and family events
4.
Irgun
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The Irgun was a Zionist paramilitary organization that operated in Mandate Palestine between 1931 and 1948. It was an offshoot of the older and larger Jewish paramilitary organization Haganah, when the group broke from the Haganah it became known as the Haganah Bet, or alternatively as haHaganah haLeumit or Hamaamad. Irgun members were absorbed into the Israel Defense Forces at the start of the 1948 Arab–Israeli war, the Irgun is also referred to as Etzel, an acronym of the Hebrew initials, or by the abbreviation IZL. The Irgun policy was based on what was then called Revisionist Zionism founded by Zeev Jabotinsky, the Irgun has been viewed as a terrorist organization or organization which carried out terrorist acts. Irguns tactics appealed to many Jews who believed that any action taken in the cause of the creation of a Jewish state was justified, the Irgun was a political predecessor to Israels right-wing Herut party, which led to todays Likud party. Likud has led or been part of most Israeli governments since 1977, members of the Irgun came mostly from Betar and from the Revisionist Party both in Palestine and abroad. The Revisionist Movement made up a backing for the underground organization. Zeev Jabotinsky, founder of Revisionist Zionism, commanded the organization until he died in 1940 and he formulated the general realm of operation, regarding Restraint and the end thereof, and was the inspiration for the organization overall. An additional major source of inspiration was the poetry of Uri Zvi Greenberg. The number of members of the Irgun varied from a few hundred to a few thousand, most of its members were people who joined the organizations command, under which they carried out various operations and filled positions, largely in opposition to British law. Most of them were people, who held regular jobs. Therefore, the Irgun tended to ignore the decisions made by the Zionist leadership, the Irgun put out numerous advertisements, an underground newspaper and even ran the first independent Hebrew radio station – Kol Zion HaLochemet. As members of an armed organization, Irgun personnel did not normally call Irgun by its name. In the first years of its existence it was primarily as Ha-Haganah Leumit, and also by names such as Haganah Bet, Irgun Bet, the Parallel Organization. Later on it became most widely known as המעמד, the anthem adopted by the Irgun was Anonymous Soldiers, written by Avraham Stern who was at the time a commander in the Irgun. Later on Stern defected from the Irgun and founded Lehi, the Irguns new anthem then became the third verse of the Betar Song, by Zeev Jabotinsky. The Irgun gradually evolved from its origins into a serious. The movement developed a hierarchy of ranks and a sophisticated command-structure and it developed clandestine networks of hidden arms-caches and weapons-production workshops, safe-houses, and training camps
5.
John Kerry
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John Forbes Kerry is an American politician who served as the 68th United States Secretary of State from 2013 to 2017. A Democrat, he previously served Massachusetts in the United States Senate from 1985 to 2013 and he was the Democratic nominee in the 2004 presidential election, losing narrowly to Republican incumbent George W. Bush. Kerry was born in Aurora, Colorado and attended boarding school in Massachusetts and he graduated from Yale University in 1966 with a major in political science. Kerry enlisted in the Naval Reserve in 1966, and between 1968 and 1969, he served an abbreviated four-month tour of duty in South Vietnam as officer-in-charge of a Swift Boat. For that service, he was awarded combat medals that include the Silver Star Medal, Bronze Star Medal and he appeared in the Fulbright Hearings before the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs where he deemed United States war policy in Vietnam to be the cause of war crimes. After receiving a J. D. from Boston College Law School and he served as Lieutenant Governor under Michael Dukakis from 1983 to 1985 and was elected to the U. S. Senate in 1984 and was sworn in the following January. On the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he led a series of hearings from 1987 to 1989 which were a precursor to the Iran–Contra affair, Kerry was re-elected to additional terms in 1990,1996,2002, and 2008. In his 2004 presidential campaign, Kerry criticized George W. Bush for the Iraq War and he and his running mate, North Carolina Senator John Edwards, lost the election, finishing 35 electoral votes behind Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. Kerry returned to the Senate, becoming Chairman of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship in 2007 and then of the Foreign Relations Committee in 2009. In January 2013, Kerry was nominated by President Barack Obama to succeed outgoing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and then confirmed by the U. S. Senate, John Forbes Kerry was born on December 11,1943, in Aurora, Colorado, at Fitzsimons Army Hospital. He is the second of four born to Richard John Kerry, a Foreign Service officer and lawyer, and Rosemary Isabel Forbes. His father was raised Catholic and his mother was Episcopalian and he was raised with an elder sister named Margaret, a younger sister named Diana and a younger brother named Cameron. The children were raised in their fathers faith, John Kerry served as an altar boy, Kerry grew up a military brat until his father was discharged from the Army Air Corps, causing the family to settle in Washington, D. C. in 1949. While in Washington, Richard took a spot in the Department of the Navys Office of General Counsel and his extended maternal family enjoyed great wealth as members of the Forbes and Dudley–Winthrop families. Kerrys parents themselves were upper-middle class, and a great aunt paid for him to attend elite boarding schools. In 1957, his father was stationed at the U. S. Embassy in Oslo, Norway, and Kerry was sent back to the United States to attend boarding school. He first attended the Fessenden School in Newton, Massachusetts, and later St. Pauls, Concord, New Hampshire, Kerry founded the John Winant Society at St. Pauls to debate the issues of the day, the Society still exists there. In 1962, Kerry entered Yale University, majoring in political science and he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1966
6.
Marathon
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The marathon is a long-distance running race with an official distance of 42.195 kilometres, usually run as a road race. The event was instituted in commemoration of the run of the Greek soldier Pheidippides, a messenger from the Battle of Marathon to Athens. The marathon was one of the original modern Olympic events in 1896, more than 800 marathons are held throughout the world each year, with the vast majority of competitors being recreational athletes as larger marathons can have tens of thousands of participants. The name Marathon comes from the legend of Philippides or Pheidippides and it is said that he ran the entire distance without stopping and burst into the assembly, exclaiming νενικήκαμεν, before collapsing and dying. Lucian of Samosata also gives the story, but names the runner Philippides, there is debate about the historical accuracy of this legend. In some Herodotus manuscripts, the name of the runner between Athens and Sparta is given as Philippides, in 1879, Robert Browning wrote the poem Pheidippides. Brownings poem, his story, became part of late 19th century popular culture and was accepted as a historic legend. This route, as it existed when the Olympics were revived in 1896, was approximately 40 kilometres long, and this route is considerably shorter, some 35 kilometres, but includes a very steep initial climb of more than 5 kilometres. When the modern Olympics began in 1896, the initiators and organizers were looking for a great popularizing event, the idea of a marathon race came from Michel Bréal, who wanted the event to feature in the first modern Olympic Games in 1896 in Athens. This idea was supported by Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympics. The Greeks staged a race for the Olympic marathon on 10 March 1896 that was won by Charilaos Vasilakos in 3 hours and 18 minutes. The winner of the first Olympic marathon, on 10 April 1896, was Spyridon Louis, the marathon of the 2004 Summer Olympics was run on the traditional route from Marathon to Athens, ending at Panathinaiko Stadium, the venue for the 1896 Summer Olympics. The womens marathon was introduced at the 1984 Summer Olympics and was won by Joan Benoit of the United States with a time of 2 hours 24 minutes and 52 seconds. It has become a tradition for the mens Olympic marathon to be the last event of the athletics calendar, often, the mens marathon medals are awarded during the closing ceremony. The Olympic mens record is 2,06,32, set at the 2008 Summer Olympics by Samuel Kamau Wanjiru of Kenya, the Olympic womens record is 2,23,07, set at the 2012 Summer Olympics by Tiki Gelana of Ethiopia. The mens London 2012 Summer Olympic marathon winner was Stephen Kiprotich of Uganda, per capita, the Kalenjin ethnic group of Rift Valley Province in Kenya has produced a highly disproportionate share of marathon and track-and-field winners. Johnny Hayes victory at the 1908 Summer Olympics contributed to the growth of long-distance running and marathoning in the United States. Later that year, races around the season including the Empire City Marathon held on New Years Day 1909 in Yonkers, New York
7.
Israel
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Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in the Middle East, on the southeastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea and the northern shore of the Red Sea. The country contains geographically diverse features within its small area. Israels economy and technology center is Tel Aviv, while its seat of government and proclaimed capital is Jerusalem, in 1947, the United Nations adopted a Partition Plan for Mandatory Palestine recommending the creation of independent Arab and Jewish states and an internationalized Jerusalem. The plan was accepted by the Jewish Agency for Palestine, next year, the Jewish Agency declared the establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz Israel, to be known as the State of Israel. Israel has since fought several wars with neighboring Arab states, in the course of which it has occupied territories including the West Bank, Golan Heights and it extended its laws to the Golan Heights and East Jerusalem, but not the West Bank. Israels occupation of the Palestinian territories is the worlds longest military occupation in modern times, efforts to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict have not resulted in peace. However, peace treaties between Israel and both Egypt and Jordan have successfully been signed, the population of Israel, as defined by the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, was estimated in 2017 to be 8,671,100 people. It is the worlds only Jewish-majority state, with 74. 8% being designated as Jewish, the countrys second largest group of citizens are Arabs, at 20. 8%. The great majority of Israeli Arabs are Sunni Muslims, including significant numbers of semi-settled Negev Bedouins, other minorities include Arameans, Armenians, Assyrians, Black Hebrew Israelites, Circassians, Maronites and Samaritans. Israel also hosts a significant population of foreign workers and asylum seekers from Africa and Asia, including illegal migrants from Sudan, Eritrea. In its Basic Laws, Israel defines itself as a Jewish, Israel is a representative democracy with a parliamentary system, proportional representation and universal suffrage. The prime minister is head of government and the Knesset is the legislature, Israel is a developed country and an OECD member, with the 35th-largest economy in the world by nominal gross domestic product as of 2016. The country benefits from a skilled workforce and is among the most educated countries in the world with one of the highest percentage of its citizens holding a tertiary education degree. The country has the highest standard of living in the Middle East and the third highest in Asia, in the early weeks of independence, the government chose the term Israeli to denote a citizen of Israel, with the formal announcement made by Minister of Foreign Affairs Moshe Sharett. The names Land of Israel and Children of Israel have historically used to refer to the biblical Kingdom of Israel. The name Israel in these phrases refers to the patriarch Jacob who, jacobs twelve sons became the ancestors of the Israelites, also known as the Twelve Tribes of Israel or Children of Israel. The earliest known artifact to mention the word Israel as a collective is the Merneptah Stele of ancient Egypt. The area is known as the Holy Land, being holy for all Abrahamic religions including Judaism, Christianity, Islam
8.
Washington, D.C.
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Washington, D. C. formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D. C. is the capital of the United States. The signing of the Residence Act on July 16,1790, Constitution provided for a federal district under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Congress and the District is therefore not a part of any state. The states of Maryland and Virginia each donated land to form the federal district, named in honor of President George Washington, the City of Washington was founded in 1791 to serve as the new national capital. In 1846, Congress returned the land ceded by Virginia, in 1871. Washington had an population of 681,170 as of July 2016. Commuters from the surrounding Maryland and Virginia suburbs raise the population to more than one million during the workweek. The Washington metropolitan area, of which the District is a part, has a population of over 6 million, the centers of all three branches of the federal government of the United States are in the District, including the Congress, President, and Supreme Court. Washington is home to national monuments and museums, which are primarily situated on or around the National Mall. The city hosts 176 foreign embassies as well as the headquarters of international organizations, trade unions, non-profit organizations, lobbying groups. A locally elected mayor and a 13‑member council have governed the District since 1973, However, the Congress maintains supreme authority over the city and may overturn local laws. D. C. residents elect a non-voting, at-large congressional delegate to the House of Representatives, the District receives three electoral votes in presidential elections as permitted by the Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution, ratified in 1961. Various tribes of the Algonquian-speaking Piscataway people inhabited the lands around the Potomac River when Europeans first visited the area in the early 17th century, One group known as the Nacotchtank maintained settlements around the Anacostia River within the present-day District of Columbia. Conflicts with European colonists and neighboring tribes forced the relocation of the Piscataway people, some of whom established a new settlement in 1699 near Point of Rocks, Maryland. 43, published January 23,1788, James Madison argued that the new government would need authority over a national capital to provide for its own maintenance. Five years earlier, a band of unpaid soldiers besieged Congress while its members were meeting in Philadelphia, known as the Pennsylvania Mutiny of 1783, the event emphasized the need for the national government not to rely on any state for its own security. However, the Constitution does not specify a location for the capital, on July 9,1790, Congress passed the Residence Act, which approved the creation of a national capital on the Potomac River. The exact location was to be selected by President George Washington, formed from land donated by the states of Maryland and Virginia, the initial shape of the federal district was a square measuring 10 miles on each side, totaling 100 square miles. Two pre-existing settlements were included in the territory, the port of Georgetown, Maryland, founded in 1751, many of the stones are still standing
9.
Prime Minister of Israel
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The Prime Minister of Israel is the head of the Israeli government and the most powerful figure in Israeli politics. Although the President of Israel is the head of state, his powers are largely ceremonial. The official residence of the minister, Beit Rosh Hamemshala is in Jerusalem. The current prime minister is Benjamin Netanyahu of Likud, the person to hold the position. Following an election, the president nominates a member of the Knesset to become prime minister after asking party leaders whom they support for the position, the nominee then presents a government platform and must receive a vote of confidence in order to become prime minister. In practice, the minister is usually the leader of the largest party in the governing coalition. Between 1996 and 2001, the minister was directly elected. The office of prime minister came into existence on 14 May 1948, the date of the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel, david Ben-Gurion, leader of Mapai and head of the Jewish Agency became Israels first prime minister. The position became permanent on 8 March 1949, when the first government was formed, Ben-Gurion retained his role until late 1953, when he resigned in order to settle in the Kibbutz of Sde Boker. He was replaced by Moshe Sharett, however, Ben-Gurion returned in a little under two years to reclaim his position. He resigned for a time in 1963, breaking away from Mapai to form Rafi. Levi Eshkol took over as head of Mapai and prime minister and he became the first prime minister to head the country under the banner of two parties when Mapai formed the Alignment with Ahdut HaAvoda in 1965. In 1968 he also became the party leader to command an absolute majority in the Knesset, after Mapam and Rafi merged into the Alignment. On 26 February 1969, Eshkol became the first prime minister to die in office, however, Allons stint lasted less than a month, as the party persuaded Golda Meir to return to political life and become prime minister in March 1969. Meir was Israels first woman minister, and the third in the world. Meir resigned in 1974 after the Agranat Commission published its findings on the Yom Kippur War, Yitzhak Rabin took over, though he also resigned towards the end of the eighth Knessets term following a series of scandals. Rabins wife, Leah, was found to have had an overseas bank account. Menachem Begin became the first right-wing prime minister when his Likud won the 1977 elections and he resigned in 1983 for health reasons, passing the reins of power to Yitzhak Shamir
10.
Mayflower Hotel
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The Mayflower Hotel, is a historic hotel in downtown Washington, D. C. located on Connecticut Avenue NW. It is two blocks north of Farragut Square, the hotel is managed by the Autograph Collection Hotels division of Marriott International. The Mayflower is known as the Grande Dame of Washington, the Hotel of Presidents, the site on which the Mayflower Hotel sits was, after the organization of the District of Columbia in 1792, initially owned by the federal government. The federal government finally sold the property to Nathaniel Carusi for $5,089, Carusi sold the site to the Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary in 1867 for $50,000. The order built the Convent of the Visitation on the site, the Mayflower Hotel was built by Allen E. Walker, the land developer behind Brookland and other residential neighborhoods of Washington. Initially called the Hotel Walker, it was to have 11 stories,1,100 rooms, on May 27,1922, the Walker Hotel Company was organized, with Allen Walker as president. Indiana limestone would be used for the facade on the first three floors, with rusticated brick and terra cotta trim on all upper floors, ground for the new hotel was broken in July 1922. Structural engineer F. E. Gillen designed the foundation, as excavation began, workers quickly uncovered the stumps of massive cypress trees, some of the trunks nearly 8 feet in diameter. Geologists estimated the stumps at 100,000 years old, as workers dug deeper, they discovered that an underground branch of Rock Creek ran below the site. This forced the foundation to be dug to bedrock, some 40 feet below ground, the facade along Connecticut Avenue was 153 feet in length, along DeSales Street 455 feet in length, and along 17th Street 140 feet in length. The main promenade running through the center of the hotel was 24 feet wide and 400 feet long, wainscoting and floors in the public rooms of the hotel were of Botticino marble and featured walnut moldings. A glass dome covered the Palm Court, which as decorated on the interior with ornamental ironwork in the Italianate style, excavation of the foundation was completed in late November 1922, several weeks ahead of schedule. Steel for the frame began arriving the week of January 21,1923, more than 500 men worked on erecting the frame, while 2,000 men erected the facade and interior walls, and worked laying electrical, water, sewer, and gas lines. Longacre Engineering Company of New York was the general contractor, construction costs continued to rise, however. Although scheduled to open January 1,1924, the hotel remained unfinished, the Allen E. Walker Investment Company, the largest shareholder in the Hotel Walker Company began running short of funds, slowing construction. Nearing bankruptcy, the Walker Investment sold its interest in the Hotel Walker to C. C, mitchell & Company, builder of large apartment complexes and hotels in Boston and Detroit. The reported price of the sale was $5.7 million for the $8.5 million hotel, but in fact, costs had risen much higher, and the hotels final cost was closer to $11 million. The new owners changed the name to the Mayflower Hotel in honor of the 300th anniversary of the landing of the Mayflower, the Mayflower Hotel opened on February 18,1925
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