Tel Aviv
As Israel’s second city prepares to celebrate its centenary, we take a look back across a century in the eastern Mediterranean urban hub
Tel Aviv
As Israel’s second city prepares to celebrate its centenary,
we take a look back across a century in the eastern Mediterranean urban hub
Previous page: Magen David Square, 1935. Public spaces such as this were set out within the city according to drafts drawn up in 1925 by Scottish urban planner Patrick Geddes. A Modernist or International style was favoured by the city’s architects, many of whom had fl ed Europe as the Nazis rose to power. Left: Tel Aviv promenade, October 2007. Local photographer Amnon Gutman explains: “It’s warm most of the year round, so residents visit the beach at night to enjoy the breeze.”
Above: Tel Aviv coastline circa 1909. In 1906, 60 Jewish families clubbed together to buy a coastal plot south of Jaffa. By 1909 they had succeeded, and were keen to divide the land up equably. According to local legend, they split their tract into 60 subplots, marking the number of each plot in a grey seashell. Into a corresponding set of white shells, they wrote the names of each family. Two children were instructed to pair up the grey and white shells, and thus the ‘Seashell Lottery’ decided the lie of Tel Aviv’s land.
Above: Ramp at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, 2005. Israel is said to have the highest number of museums per capita of any country. This Tel Aviv institution, established in 1932, possesses an impressive permanent collection, thanks to extensive donations from the likes of Peggy Guggenheim. It focuses on modern art, from Impressionism through to the 1960s.
Top left: Bloomfi eld stadium, August 2006. The orthodox gent was collecting for charity; the girls were sporting Beitar Jerusalem FC scarves. Both were drawn to a national derby between the Jerusalem side and local boys, Maccabi Tel Aviv. Maccabilost, but the crowd suggests that Tel Aviv wins out culturally, as the Israeli city where tradition buddies up with modernity.
Left: Dizengoff Street, late 1930s. This central thoroughfare served as Tel Aviv’s answer to London’s Bond Street until thelate 1970s. The glamorous retail district even gave rise to a new Hebrew verb:lehizdangef, or to shop languidly. Again, the International-style buildings – a kind of Bauhaus-on-Sea – stand as testament to Israel’s émigré architects.
