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Tel Aviv holds the largest concentration of International Style buildings in the world, roughly 4,000, of which around 1,000 are protected. Built mostly between 1931 and 1948 by Jewish architects who studied at the Bauhaus and the German modernist schools and fled to Mandate Palestine, the "White City" was inscribed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site in 2003. This lesson covers the founding architects, the local adaptation of Bauhaus principles, the streets to walk, and the conservation politics today.
Cultural note, The "White City" is whiter in postcards than in life. Decades of sun, salt, and weak conservation budgets turned much of the stock grey or brown. The Max Liebling House on Idelson Street is the official conservation centre, visit it to see what restoration looks like done right. Saturday-morning architecture tours (Bauhaus Center on Dizengoff) are the standard introduction.
Bauhaus Origins & Local Adaptation
Founding Architects
UNESCO White City
Streets & Buildings to Walk
Conservation Vocabulary
A Saturday Morning Bauhaus Tour
A short reading: a typical White-City walk from Dizengoff Square down Sheinkin to Rothschild, named buildings and named streets.