Zionist Architecture and Town Planning: The Building of Tel Aviv (1919-1929)

by Nathan Harpaz

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781557536730
Publisher:	Purdue University Press
Publication date:	11/15/2013
Series:	Shofar Supplements in Jewish Studies
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	7.40(w) x 11.10(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Nathan Harpaz is an art historian and a museum professional. He earned degrees in psychology and art history from Tel Aviv University and a PhD in Interdisciplinary Studies from Union Institute and University in Cincinnati, Ohio. Formerly an art museum director in Tel Aviv, Harpaz is currently is head of the Koehnline Museum of Art near Chicago and teaches art history courses including “Jewish Art from Antiquity to Modern Israel” and museum studies.

Table of Contents

Preface and Acknowledgments vii

Introduction 1

Part 1 Theories on Zionist Architecture and Town Planning

1 The Concept of Modernity in Early Twentieth-Century Architecture and Town Planning 9

2 The Zionist Movement's Approach to Advanced Plans in Architecture and Town Planning 19

3 Zionist Architecture and Town Planning in the Early Twentieth Century 27

Part 2 Alexander Levy: Building and Housing in New Palestine, Berlin 1920

4 The Origins of the Plan 33

5 The Building Company 41

6 The Crucial Matter of Building Materials 47

7 Models of Houses 55

8 The Arrangement of Houses 83

9 Standardization in the Building Industry 95

10 A Comparison of Levy's Proposal to Other Plans 103

11 The Failure of Levy's Plan 113

Part 3 Eclectic Architecture and Chaotic Town Planning in Tel Aviv, 1919-1929

12 The Garden City of Ahuzat-Bayit 117

13 The Transformation of Tel Aviv into a Commercial City 129

14 Bezalel and Tel Aviv 151

15 The Search for Local Original Style 165

16 Eclectic Architecture 179

17 Patronage, Public Involvement, and the Media 197

18 Laborers' Organizations and the Beginning of Housing for the Workers 203

19 Levy and the Tel Aviv Experience 207

Part 4 Conclusion

20 Conclusion 235

Bibliography 245

Appendix I Ernst Herrmann's Survey of Building in Palestine 257

Appendix II Maps of Palestine, Jaffa, and Tel Aviv 265

Index 275