Gudonski Estate

Gudonski Estate is both the setting for Volodya Gudonski’s display of wealth and authority and, later, the physical measure of his retreat from the world. Its transition from carefully tended grounds to a house reclaimed by vegetation follows Volodya’s withdrawal: the estate begins as a place arranged for visitors and ends as a largely sealed space shared with one old Armenian companion.

Setting and Grounds

The estate stands between Binyamina and Zikhron Yaakov. At its gateway, Volodya paces along a gravel path, establishing the property as a domain he personally commands. He is known as a dealer in land and importer of iron, and stories about his earlier life circulate alongside his reputation for wealth and forceful independence.

The grounds are presented to visitors as an abundant, carefully maintained landscape. Circassian laborers from Galilee work the fields; an ornamental pool holds goldfish beneath a fountain, and the rose garden contains rare varieties imported from Japan and Burma. The long tour offered to Alexander A. Gideon and Ilana Sommo makes the estate itself part of Volodya’s performance of hospitality and status.

A Stage for Volodya’s Authority

In 1959, Alexander brings Ilana, his intended, to meet his father. Volodya welcomes them with iced pomegranate juice and leads them around the estate. Throughout the visit he controls the conversation and directs his attention conspicuously toward Ilana, presenting himself as host while treating his son as a largely silent onlooker. The carefully cultivated grounds provide the setting for this imbalance: Volodya can conduct the encounter on his own terms, while Alexander is left with little room to respond.

The visit remains vivid in Alexander’s recollection. Seventeen years later, writing in Chicago, he remembers his forced grin returning as he recalls how enthusiastically Ilana joined Volodya’s game. The estate is therefore not merely the location of an introduction; it is the place where Alexander remembers being displaced in his father’s presence, a memory that continues to carry resentment.

Withdrawal and Decline

When Boaz is born, Volodya is in northern Portugal. He sends money for a certificate declaring that a peak in the Himalayas has been named Boaz Gideon Peak, but the gesture does not lead to closer family ties. In 1963, when Boaz is two or three, Volodya becomes a recluse. He refuses to receive Alexander and Ilana, dismisses the people who work for him, and shuts himself inside the estate with armed guards for a time. He spends his days studying Persian, astrology, and the Feldenkrais Method; he also rejects doctors sent by Manfred Zakheim and later burns a book about the method after deciding he has found its weakness.

The retreat proceeds by stages. Volodya first dismisses the workmen, then the household servants and guards. He is left with one old Armenian, with whom he plays billiards in the cellar. The two sleep on camp beds in the kitchen and live on canned food and beer. A crossbeam and nails secure the kitchen door against the rest of the house, marking a sharp boundary between their reduced living quarters and the rooms they have abandoned.

The Estate Reclaimed

As upkeep ceases, the cultivated grounds and occupied house give way to unchecked growth. The orchard becomes a jungle; branches enter through broken upstairs windows, while plants and bushes spread into rooms on the ground floor. Creepers climb the staircases and pass through rooms toward the roof, and roots emerge between the decorated floor tiles. Pigeons take over the house, while rats, snakes, and night birds nest in its corridors.

This deterioration reverses the estate’s earlier order. The fountain, goldfish, and imported roses belong to the property’s maintained face; the later house is shaped by open windows, invading plants, and animal occupation. Yet Volodya remains inside, speaking fluent Persian with his Armenian companion. The contrast makes the estate’s decay more than a change in scenery: the once expansive property has become the enclosure of a life deliberately reduced to a few rooms and a single companion.