How Did Tel Aviv Become a Beacon For Stunning Bauhaus Architecture?

While Germany has been busy celebrating the 100th anniversary of Bauhaus architecture in 2019, Tel Aviv has been honoring the movement and preparing for its own architectural commemoration in 2020: the 20th anniversary of its Bauhaus Center on Dizengoff Street, a bustling thoroughfare named after the city's first mayor. Though it may be unknown to the typical person, Tel Aviv is actually home to approximately 4,000 edifices of Bauhaus architecture (2,000 of which are protected under preservation law), the world’s largest collection of Bauhaus-inspired buildings.

But how did the Bauhaus style come to Israel from Germany? When the Nazis rose to power in Germany in 1933, resulting in the closure of the Bauhaus design school that same year, tens of thousands of Jews fled Germany to settle in Mandatory Palestine. With 60,000 new immigrants arriving within just a few short years, housing was urgently needed. Dozens of architects were commissioned to build a new city. Among the most influential European architects selected were six German Jews who had studied at the Bauhaus school in Weimar and Dessau. They were key to the development of Tel Aviv’s "White City," whose moniker is attributable to its whitewashed façades.

“In other countries we see Bauhaus buildings usually in some isolation or as neighborhoods, but rarely as connected urban tissues.” says Dr. Micha Gross, cofounder of the Bauhaus Center Tel Aviv. This onrush of Bauhaus-designed buildings in the mid-20th century in one city led to the distinct recognition of it being named a modern UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2003.

Also known as the International Style, the Bauhaus movement was selected in large part due to its functionality, clean lines, and lack of adornment. This minimalist approach was well-suited to the socialist-Zionist ideal of pre-state Israel, which perceived the construction of a new city as central to the creation of a new, more just society. “The spirit of modernism manifests itself in our Bauhaus architecture, and was important in the foundation of the democratic State of Israel—a fact people tend to forget,” says Gross. “The movement can be seen as a reaction to the conservative regimes prior to World World I, especially in Europe. Decorations reflecting different social classes are avoided within modern architecture, and replaced by functionalism. Bauhaus architecture has, for this reason, by definition, some socialist elements with egalitarian purposes too.”

In designing the new buildings in the 1930s and 1940s, the architects also made accommodations for the hot, sunny Israeli climate by using less glass (smaller windows) to minimize heat, making flat roofs so that these could be used as an outdoor social space, and incorporating massive balconies to catch the Mediterranean breezes and sunbreakers to provide shade.

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Below are nine beautiful examples of Bauhaus architecture in and around Tel Aviv. Most of these buildings are featured in a book Dr. Gross edited entitled Preservation and Renewal: Bauhaus and International Style Buildings in Tel Aviv (2015).

One of the first theaters in Tel Aviv, Cinema Ester (above) was designed by architect Yehuda Magidowitz. Now restored as the Cinema Hotel, it is centrally located in Dizengoff Square. This remarkable International Style construction features undulating balconies and geometric windows. Its columns and pilotis supports, which lift a building above the ground or a body of water, are “typical of the local Bauhaus style,” says Gross.

The circular public square on which the Cinema Hotel is situated was recently reconstructed. “Since its renovation, it will hopefully be again the heart of the White City and probably the only real Bauhaus square all over the globe," adds Dr. Gross.

Originally designed to house offices and commercial spaces, Jacobson’s (above), with its elegant, asymmetrical façade, has always been a mixed-use building. In 2012 it underwent extensive restoration.

Known as the Thermometer building (above) because of the vertical line of diagonal, slatted windows running up and down its entire four-story length, the structure seems more ornamental than other Bauhaus buildings in Tel Aviv. However, it too is above all a functional housing space. Of particular note, the oddly shaped windows align perfectly with the interior staircase, thereby letting in light throughout the day but not as much heat as would larger, fully open windows.

Shimon Levi House (above) is emblematic of the Bauhaus movement. Although it's a bit isolated, the building’s imposing height and curvilinear form feels like approaching the bow of a massive steam ship from the water. Hence the reason the building is more popularly known as “the ship building."

This sleek private mansion (above) commissioned by photographer Avraham Soskin has been restored, accentuating its flowing, almost vessel-like curves along its facade. A sequence of recessed windows are reminiscent of ribbon windows.

A well-executed renovation in 2002 showcases the simple cubic geometry of this apartment house (above). As with the Cinema Hotel, pillars raise the entrance. Another noteworthy element is the round ventilation openings of the balconies.

This three-story block of flats (above) with shops on the ground floor has a façade with a pattern that calls to mind vertical cylinders cut out to reveal balconies, all laid out diagonally with a sort of a staggered effect so that no one apartment is blocked from the sun or from having a view. Meanwhile, the balconies at the front of the building, diagonal to the street, are square. It’s “modern, timeless and interesting,” says Dr. Gross.

This house (above) was evidently originally lower, at almost half of the current height and had a more oblong shape. It’s a good example of the use of sunbreakers, though in this case, they are done in the form of small platforms wrapping around the façade and imbuing the structure with an air of refinement.