In 1952, the Israeli government purchased the house for the purpose of turning it to an official residence for the Foreign Minister. In 1974, the Israeli Government decided to transfer the official residence of the Prime Minister from Julius Jacobs House (com), which had served as the official residence of the Israeli Prime Minister between 1950–1974, to Beit Aghion. During the 1990s, a wall was erected around the house for security reasons and a segment of Balfour Street was closed to traffic.