When it comes to architecture, Tel Aviv is full of surprises.
On the plus side, you can lose yourself in the exoticism of the middle east (the Shuk, Jaffa, or the Yemenite quarter), wander in what looks like a charming European village (Neve Tzedek,), or stroll on a beautiful European style boulevard (Rothschild).
Equally, you can find yourself in a modern downtown, in an impressive cultural complex (Habima), or in a charming Bauhaus neighbourhood for which the town is famous. There is even a small neighbourhood of American colonial wood buildings (as far as I know, the only ones in Israel) which were built in 1866 by a group of settlers from Maine. They went so far as to bring their own wood with them, and thought they were coming to the Garden of Eden. (They lasted two years.) For some of this, you need to go looking, and it is worth the effort.
But this is no architectural paradise, by any stretch of the imagination. Most streets, even in expensive neighbourhoods, are lined with boxy, utilitarian, low-rise flats, covered in stucco that has weathered to a tired tan colour. (Fortunately there are lots of trees that soften the effect.)
There are also plenty of gritty commercial stretches, sometimes right next to, or interspersed with, nicer buildings. (One of the worst of them is right behind the seaside stretch of hotels, which can immediately give tourists the wrong idea about this city). This sort of thing serves to weaken the overall aesthetic considerably. For example, I post two pictures below of once identical buildings across the street from another in the centre of town; one restored, the other not. This is Tel Aviv in a nutshell…be prepared for both.
There are also some very prominent buildings that fall into the “What were they thinking category?” For example, the city hall. When I first saw it, I took it for a shabby office building, or even an apartment building.)
When I say the city hall is brutal, it is not my personal opinion. It is the formal term for pretty much the ugliest building style to afflict the planet, the aptly named “Brutalist” movement; and sadly Tel Aviv has an unfortunate amount of it. (Okay, so it also happens to be my personal opinion…)
I had trouble understanding how this happened. Perhaps it was built in a period when money was short? (Surely it wasn’t meant to look like that!) A little research proved me wrong. Brutalist buildings were expensive to build, prominent architects designed them, and the city is full of them. Clearly the planning department in the mid-twentieth century was infatuated with the movement. Most of beachfront hotels are (sadly) also in this style, and many other prominent buildings: the EL Al building, the Dizengoff Tower, the Shalom Tower and so forth. I pass a few of them every day…and they do not add to the pleasure of the walk. (Of course, who has time to look up when dodging bicycles and scooters.)
Toronto has its fair share of brutalist architecture as well, (the Robarts Library, being a prime example) , but the look seems less jarring in the concrete jungle of downtown north American cities, than in what was fundamentally a low-rise Mediterranean city. Here they pop up like a bunch of sore thumbs.
And while the City Hall is bad, apparently it pales in comparison with the Central Bus Terminal, a 2.2 million s.f. behemoth, spread over 5 city blocks and originally meant to house 2,300 stores! It is apparently the largest bus terminal in the world and reputedly the most hated structure in Israel. Every so often, planners talk about tearing it down, but apparently that is almost impossible, so thick is the concrete, and the fear is that the resultant dust would choke Tel Aviv for weeks. Needless to say, the architect was a Brutalist, and likely someone who never took a bus anywhere.
I have never been there, and most Tel Avivis avoid it like the plague, but the structure is now so full of so many bizarre things, that at least one enterprising company offers monthly tours…and since it is not in the nicest part of town, that might be the safest way to go. I am trying to persuade Mike to come along, but I may have to lean on Ben for this one. Either way, I think it will deserve its own post! Stay tuned.