Today the Moshava, as it is popularly known, is an upscale neighborhood bisected by Emek Refaim Street, an avenue lined with trendy shops, restaurants and cafes.

The name is derived from a legendary race of giants who lived in this region in biblical times.In 1873, after establishing colonies in Haifa and Jaffa, members of the Templer sect from Württemberg, Germany, settled on a large tract of land in the Refaim Valley, southwest of the Old City of Jerusalem.

They built their homes in the style to which they were accustomed in Germany - farmhouses of one or two stories, with slanting tiled roofs and shuttered windows, but using local materials such as Jerusalem stone instead of wood and bricks.

An apartment in the Kübler house, on Adolphe Cremieux Street, which still has a water trough in the yard, was purchased by former Prime Minister of Israel, Ehud Olmert.

Numerous cafes, bars, restaurants, and boutiques have opened in the neighborhood, and many affluent families have moved there, pushing up the price of real estate.

The German Colony has a large English-speaking population,[6] with the English speaking community comprising both families and singles, permanent immigrants and visitors.

One finds Swabian-style homes, examples of late provincial Ottoman architecture and British Art Deco from the Mandatory period, within close proximity.

Apart from the French author Émile Zola, Czech president Tomas Masaryk, Adolphe Crémieux and South African prime minister Jan Smuts, many of the streets are named for Britons: Liberal Prime Minister David Lloyd George, British Labour Party MP Josiah Wedgwood, Colonel John Henry Patterson, commander of the Jewish Legion in World War I, and pro-Zionist British general Wyndham Deedes.