Established as a Jewish settlement in 1909 and dedicated a year later, Tel Aviv has grown over the last century to become Israel’s financial center and the country’s second largest city. This book examines a major period in the city’s establishment when Jewish architects moved from Europe, including Alexander Levy of Berlin, and attempted to establish a new style of Zionist urbanism in the years after World War I. The author explores the interplay of an ambitious architectural program and the pragmatic needs that drove its chaotic implementation during a period of dramatic population growth. He explores the intense debate among the Zionist leaders in Berlin in regard to future Jewish settlement in the land of Israel after World War I, and the difficulty in imposing a town plan and architectural style based on European concepts in an environment where they clashed with desires for Jewish revival and self-identity. While “modern” values advocated universality, Zionist ideas struggled with the conflict between the concept of “New Order” and traditional and historical motifs. As well as being the first detailed study of the formative period in Tel Aviv’s development, this book presents a valuable case study in nation-building and the history of Zionism. Meticulously researched, it is also illustrated with hundreds of plans and photographs that show how much of the fabric of early twentieth century Tel Aviv persists in the modern city.
Preface and Acknowledgments
Introduction
Part 1: Theories on Zionist Architecture and Town Planning
1 The Concept of Modernity in Early Twentieth-Century Architecture and Town Planning
2 The Zionist Movement’s Approach to Advanced Plans in Architecture and Town Planning
3 Zionist Architecture and Town Planning in the Early Twentieth Century
Part 2: Alexander Levy: Building and Housing in New Palestine, Berlin 1920
4 The Origins of the Plan
5 The Building Company
6 The Crucial Matter of Building Materials
7 Models of Houses
8 The Arrangement of Houses
9 Standardization in the Building Industry
10 A Comparison of Levy’s Proposal to Other Plans
11 The Failure of Levy’s Plan
Part 3: Eclectic Architecture and Chaotic Town Planning in Tel Aviv, 1919-1929
12 The Garden City of Ahuzat-Bayit
13 The Transformation of Tel Aviv into a Commercial City
14 Bezalel and Tel Aviv
15 The Search for Local Original Style
16 Eclectic Architecture
17 Patronage, Public Involvement, and the Media
18 Laborers’ Organizations and the Beginning of Housing for the Workers
19 Levy and the Tel Aviv Experience
Part 4: Conclusion
Conclusion
Bibliography
Appendix I: Ernst Herrmann’s Survey of Building in Palestine
Appendix II: Maps of Palestine, Jaffa, and Tel Aviv
Index