Joseph Berlin (1877-1952) was born in Mogilev Russia/now Belarus. He studied at St Petersburg Academy of Art graduating in 1911, winning several architectural competitions. Berlin then worked in St Petersburg, designing 12+ buildings for various local councils and banks before migrating to British-ruled Palestine with his family in 1921
Once settled, he got work as Chief Architect in the Public Works Dept of the important trade union, the Histadrut. In his 3 years there, he designed a number of buildings in Tel-Aviv including the Electric Corporation on HaHashmal St, a textile factory and a number of private houses eg Shapira House in Bialik St which later became a synagogue. In total Berlin designed 100+ buildings around the country, 83 in Tel Aviv, many of them landmarks which still stand today.
Once settled, he got work as Chief Architect in the Public Works Dept of the important trade union, the Histadrut. In his 3 years there, he designed a number of buildings in Tel-Aviv including the Electric Corporation on HaHashmal St, a textile factory and a number of private houses eg Shapira House in Bialik St which later became a synagogue. In total Berlin designed 100+ buildings around the country, 83 in Tel Aviv, many of them landmarks which still stand today.
Haaretz Tel Aviv, built 1932
architect Joseph Berlin
So why did Joseph Berlin agree to design printing works? Haaretz Newspaper was founded in 1918, sponsored by the British military government in Palestine, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel. Haaretz is considered the most influential and respected daily newspaper, Israel's newspaper of record. In 1919, it was led by a group of Russian Labour Zionists and the literary section attracted leading Hebrew writers of the time.
Architect Joseph Berlin
Until 1922 the paper was printed in Jerusalem, then it reopened in Tel Aviv early 1923 under the editorship of Moshe Glickson. Tel Aviv Council granted the paper financial support by paying in advance for future advertisements. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, it was seen as the most sophisticated of the country's dailies.
Apart from the news, Haaretz publishes feature articles on social and environmental issues, book reviews, investigative reporting and political commentary. Its readership includes Israel's intelligentsia and members of its political and economic elites. Haaretz readership has a higher-than-average education and income and most are Ashkenazim.
Salman Schocken (1877-1959) was a publisher and co-founder of the large Kaufhaus Schocken chain of department stores in Germany. His classiest shop was in Stuttgart, designed by famous architect Erich Mendelsohn in 1926. Straight after the Nazis took over, Schocken left Germany and emigrated to Palestine in 1934; the department stores he left in Germany were quickly aryanised.
Stuttgart branch, Kaufhaus Schocken chain of German department stores.
Schocken founded Schocken Books, publishing books in German and Hebrew. And fortunately he bought Haaretz Printing Company in Dec 1937.
Commentators have compared the former print works to the early works of Bauhaus star Walter Gropius and those of Erich Mendelsohn who designed the de la Warr pavilion in Sussex. It made sense. Berlin was trained in Russia but by the time he was building in Tel Aviv in the 1930s, his projects incorporated many elements of the Bauhaus style i.e few decorative additions, flat roofs, ribbon windows.
Ha'aretz Newspaper left the building years ago but the current owners have kept the original facade, maintaining it excellently. It has strong features, with wide steel framed glass, rounded balconies and balustrades, and a cantilevered roof. And note the glazed corner stairwell looking into the zigzag staircase, adding drama to the design. Its squared-off corner contrasts with the curves of the rest of the balconies. Look through the door to a reproduced image of the building back in the 1930's. The only significant difference is that the original image still bore the newspaper name on the facade.
Haaretz is still owned by the Schocken family, now the printing house is in Schocken St Sth Tel Aviv. The glass staircase and balcony with railings are striking. The building used to have another structure in the back, which was demolished and replaced by a higher housing building.
In the era of their partnership, Joseph and Zeev Berlin designed several buildings in T.A, including Braun-Rabinsky House (1932) cnr Rothschild Bld & Mazeh St. This residential building was designed by the father-and-son team, its design characterised by straight, unadorned lines. It was designed as a 3-storeyed house with 2 flats on each floor, on either side of a vertical stairs; this accentuated the corner and functions as the building's axis of symmetry. See the stairwell and the vertical thermometer window. Since then the penthouse was added to the building, setback from the main façade, while another extension was added at the rear.
Haaretz Printing Co, Tel Aviv
renovated in the 1990s
The original Haaretz building was designed in 1932 to the architectural designs of Joseph Berlin and his son Zeev. 56 Mazeh St Tel Aviv was completely a residential street at the time when the print works were built. In fact it was surprising that permission was granted for a noisy industrial unit that operated all night, printing the next day's edition. It was demolished in the early 1990s with only part of the facade preserved and integrated into the modernist building.
Commentators have compared the former print works to the early works of Bauhaus star Walter Gropius and those of Erich Mendelsohn who designed the de la Warr pavilion in Sussex. It made sense. Berlin was trained in Russia but by the time he was building in Tel Aviv in the 1930s, his projects incorporated many elements of the Bauhaus style i.e few decorative additions, flat roofs, ribbon windows.
Ha'aretz Newspaper left the building years ago but the current owners have kept the original facade, maintaining it excellently. It has strong features, with wide steel framed glass, rounded balconies and balustrades, and a cantilevered roof. And note the glazed corner stairwell looking into the zigzag staircase, adding drama to the design. Its squared-off corner contrasts with the curves of the rest of the balconies. Look through the door to a reproduced image of the building back in the 1930's. The only significant difference is that the original image still bore the newspaper name on the facade.
Haaretz is still owned by the Schocken family, now the printing house is in Schocken St Sth Tel Aviv. The glass staircase and balcony with railings are striking. The building used to have another structure in the back, which was demolished and replaced by a higher housing building.
In the era of their partnership, Joseph and Zeev Berlin designed several buildings in T.A, including Braun-Rabinsky House (1932) cnr Rothschild Bld & Mazeh St. This residential building was designed by the father-and-son team, its design characterised by straight, unadorned lines. It was designed as a 3-storeyed house with 2 flats on each floor, on either side of a vertical stairs; this accentuated the corner and functions as the building's axis of symmetry. See the stairwell and the vertical thermometer window. Since then the penthouse was added to the building, setback from the main façade, while another extension was added at the rear.
Braun-Rabinsky House, Tel Aviv, 1932
by Joseph and Zeev Berlin architects
Read 1. Baruch Ravid’s book: Josef Berlin, Architect: Between Little Tel Aviv and the White City (2005) and 2. Adrian Yekkes, Josef Berlin in Tel Aviv.
An intriguing piece of Tel Aviv’s architectural history, showing how Russian-trained architects such as Joseph Berlin helped shape the city’s distinctive modernist identity while preserving a fascinating connection between architecture, journalism and the cultural life of the time
ReplyDeleteYes! There probably was always a fascinating connection between architecture, literature, the arts and the cultural life each country and each era. But I knew nothing about how some individuals or some institutions focused on the connection.
DeleteThis sounds silly now, since Leonardo da Vinci was always a multi-disciplinary creator. And more recently Le Corbusier a great painter, sculptor, urban planner and writer.
I must acknowledge that fascinating connections can also be made by 2 or more different artists, working together on one project.
The buildings have clean lines and look business-like without being boring or forbidding.
ReplyDeletejabblog
DeleteBauhaus was never forbidding, thank goodness. Bauhausers always wanted to build affordable and attractive projects for middle and working classes. They replaced cramped, dark sites with open-plan layouts that focused on attractive light, ventilation and good health.
Those buildings I like, they look attractive and an interesting part of history, Hels.
ReplyDeleteMargaret
DeleteI am biased of course, but you are totally correct :) I was just born in the wrong decade.
Schocken set high standards for the organization, the quality of the products, and especially the aesthetics of the building and the interior design. He commissioned several buildings to be built by the famous architect Erich Mendelsohn. In 1933, the company had an extensive network of more than thirty branches.
ReplyDeleteJudisches Museum
DeleteIn the 1920s, Mendelsohn became one of the most successful and prosperous architects in Germany with his dynamic, forward-looking commercial designs like the Schocken Department Stores. So Schocken was very wise getting Mendelsohn to meet the very high standards for his organisation, exactly!
If Schocken was a man from a poor Russian family, he did very well in his career. He became the chairman of the Organization of German Department Stores and a person filled with the ambition to make his stores aesthetic masterworks of the new Bauhaus architecture. Next to the men's clothes counter he gave out poems by Goethe, and with the profit he made, he supported poor writers like the young Agnon who'd moved to Germany.
ReplyDeleteJoe
DeleteSchocken was born in Posen, Germany. He understood his retail innovations, and credited his own success with being a risk-taker and a meticulous planner. His work was well recognized by his peers. He was invited to give lectures before the German Ministry of Economics, and was elected to be chairman of the Organization of German Department Stores. The Schocken department stores were warmly embraced by the German people and by the Organization of German Retailers. Success in business gave Schocken the money and intellectual freedom to branch off into cultural entrepreneurship. He launched the publishing houses in Berlin, Tel Aviv and New York.
Without much knowledge, I've always thought there would be some very interesting buildings in Tel Aviv, a very civilised part of Israel.
ReplyDeleteAndrew
DeleteTel Aviv was gorgeous because it was built next to the beach, was filled with well trained architects and town planners and the weather is Mediterranean. Even now, projects must strictly conform to national, district and local plans which (successfully) dictate land use, building heights, floor-area ratios and conservation rules.
The library building constructed in the Rehavia neighborhood of Jerusalem between 1935 and 1936 for the bibliophile businessman and publisher Salman Schocken is a rarity: Not only is it preserved as an authentic architectural structure, including its interior furnishings, it also continues to serve its original purpose into the present day. Designed by the renowned architect Erich Mendelsohn, who immigrated from Berlin in 1934, it was conceived by Schocken as a semi-public space of academic research and encounter.
ReplyDeleteSchocken’s book collection, salvaged from Germany, originally comprised 60,000 volumes, including numerous original manuscripts.
Schocken Library
Deletemany thanks. I hadn't remembered that tens of thousands of books were saved and donated to an important library in Jerusalem. And I didn't recognise the 1935-6 photo of the library from the outside. But I am delighted to read that Erich Mendelsohn designed this facility as well.
Although I have been to Tel-Aviv many many times to visit family, I do not know much about architecture. I learned a lot from your post. Thanks Hels
ReplyDeletegluten Free
ReplyDeleteI was totally besotted with the Bauhaus Institute, but originally I didn't know about their graduates who moved to Israel later on. Tel Aviv was perfect for their projects, so read this post and see if you agree:
https://melbourneblogger.blogspot.com/2008/12/bauhaus-moved-to-tel-aviv.html
Boa noite minha querida amiga Helen. A reforma da Casa Pacheco Leão, foi maravilhosa. Tenho certeza que na Austrália, não é diferente. Infelizmente, nunca saí do Brasil. Obrigado pela maravilhosa aula de história e explicações detalhadas, nunca ouvi falar desse arquiteto. Sei que a cidade do Rio de Janeiro, tem lugares da colonização portuguesa e alguns prédios com arquitetura italiana. Uma excelente noite de quinta-feira, para você e todos os seus familiares na Austrália e um grande abraço do seu amigo carioca.
ReplyDeleteLuiz
ReplyDeleteFounded in Germany in 1919, Bauhaus emphasised functionality and the integration of art and industry. With Bauhaus closing in 1933 under Nazi pressure, its ideas spread worldwide, carried widely by its disciples. Latin America stood out for its unique ability to adapt Bauhaus ideals to its cultural and climate contexts. Bauhaus principles influenced modernist design in Brazil, Mexico and Argentina through the visionary work of pioneers like Lina Bo Bardi.
"The Bauhaus Influence in Latin America"