http://israel21c.org/nostalgia-israel/aka-bevingrad-the-new-shlomzion-square/
Participants in the festivities at Jerusalem’s new city square at the axis of Shlomzion HaMalka, Ben Sira and HaMelech Shlomo Streets may have no idea that this was once the location of the British army and police HQ, a battlefield and a border.
Jerusalem has a new urban plaza for tourism, events and entertainment. The intersection of Shlomzion HaMalka, Ben Sira and HaMelech Shlomo Streets has been redesigned, paved, landscaped, furnished and turned into a square that connects pedestrian traffic from the city center with the Mamilla open air mall and the Old City at Jaffa Gate. The intention of the NIS 18 million project, according to the Municipal Spokesperson’s office, is to “pave the way to tourist business and increase the economic boom in the city center.
The inauguration of the new square was held this past Thursday in the presence of Mayor Nir Barkat, while just up the street at the Russian Compound, the Jerusalem Indie City street music festival was happening. There was nary a mention of Bevingrad, even though a scant 65 years earlier (a mere eyeblink in historical terms), that was what the entire area between these two points was called.
“Bevingrad” was the name cynically given by Jerusalem residents during the British Mandate. It referred to areas of Jerusalem that were fortified by the British for fear of Etzel (Irgun) attacks — like one carried out at the Kind David Hotel in 1946 and included buildings on King George Street, the Russian compound (which the British had rented from the Russians to use as a jail), police headquarters and courthouses, the Italian hospital, the central post office, buildings owned by companies British company OBG and Italian Insurance Company Generali, as well as police storage warehouses. The nickname referred to British Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin and the famous Stalingrad fortifications.