Straus Street

Straus Street

רחוב שטראוס Rehov Straus
Looking north on Straus Street from the intersection with Street of the Prophets
Former name(s)	Chancellor Avenue
Location	Jerusalem
North end	Kikar HaShabbat (intersection of Straus Street, Yeshayahu Street, Malkhei Yisrael Street, Yehezkel Street, and Mea Shearim Road)
South end	Jaffa Road
Construction
Inauguration	1930 (1930)

Straus Street (Hebrew: רחוב שטראוס‎‎, Rehov Straus) is a north-south road in north-central Jerusalem. It starts at Jaffa Road and extends to Kikar HaShabbat (Sabbath Square), which marks the intersection of five streets: Straus Street, Yeshayahu Street, Malkhei Yisrael Street, Yehezkel Street, and Mea Shearim Road. The street was named for Nathan Straus, a prominent American merchant and Jewish philanthropist in the early twentieth century.

Inaugurated in 1930, Straus Street was named in honor of Nathan Straus (1848–1931), co-owner of Macy’s department store,New York City Parks Commissioner, and president of the New York City Board of Health, who gifted two-thirds of his personal fortune to projects benefiting Jews and Arabs in Mandatory Palestine. These include the Nathan and Lina Straus Soup Kitchen in the Old City of Jerusalem and the Nathan and Lina Straus Health Centres in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. The Israeli coastal city of Netanya, founded in 1928, was also named in his honor.

In 1931 the British Mandatory government renamed the street Chancellor Avenue after Sir John Chancellor, a British High Commissioner during the Mandate era. The street reverted to its original name following the 1948 War of Independence.