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Levin House (Tel Aviv)

House in Tel Aviv, Israel

Summary

House in Tel Aviv, Israel

Field	Value
name	Levin House
native_name	בית לוין
native_name_lang	he
alternate_names	The Castle, Russian Embassy House, Sotheby's House, Heseg House
status	Completed
image	בית השגרירות הרוסית , שדרות רוטשילד מספר 46.jpg
image_caption	The Levin House in 2012
address	46 Rothschild Boulevard, corner of Shadal Street
location_city	Tel Aviv
location_country	Israel
completion_date	1924
architect	Yehuda Magidovitch
renovation_date	1990s
building_type	Historic building
architectural_style	Eclectic, with neoclassical influences
known_for	Unique architecture, historical significance, former Soviet Embassy
owner	Heseg Foundation (current)

The Levin House, in Hebrew Beit Levin - Tel Avivians gave it the nickname "the Castle" and later called it the Russian Embassy House - is a historic building located at 46 Rothschild Boulevard on the corner of Shadal Street in Tel Aviv, Israel, and is one of the city's best-known buildings.

Levin House is an eclectic building with some neoclassical influences,

One of the more striking elements of the building is its pointy-roofed tower. During the building's rehabilitation, the crew discovered that the three parts of the tower could be opened by using a special mechanism, and create an opening over the staircase. The mechanism enabled furniture to be moved into the building. It may also have been used by the religiously observant Levine family to create a succah during Sukkot.

History

The house was originally built for the Levin family. It later had several owners throughout the years and, after the establishment of the State of Israel, housed the Soviet Embassy, being known during those years as the Russian Embassy House. On the evening of February 9, 1953, the house was damaged by a bomb placed by three former Lehi activists. The event was used by the Soviet Union as an excuse for suspending diplomatic relations with Israel, claiming that the operation was backed by the Israeli government. Diplomatic relations were renewed after Stalin's death in 1953, only to be suspended again in 1967 due to the Six-Day War, and restored in 1991 as a result of Mikhail Gorbachev's Perestroika reform.

Since the 1990s

After years of neglect, the building went through rehabilitation by architects Amnon Bar Or and Moti Bodek, along with engineer Shmaya Ben Avraham. The conservation was done alongside the construction on the adjacent Alrov Tower (built 1995–99), designed by architects Avraham Yaski and Yosi Sivan. This special construction project, which combines a historic reconstruction with an adjacent skyscraper, has encouraged similar projects nearby. Throughout the 1990s and until 2006, the building housed the offices and showrooms of Sotheby's Auction House, and was renamed Sotheby's House.

In 2006, the house was sold for over 35 million shekels to Gerry Schwartz and Heather Reisman and it is now called Heseg House after the Heseg foundation established by the couple. The house was donated to the philanthropic fund, and after another restoration is used for philanthropic activities, primarily by Heseg – a scholarship fund for former soldiers.

References

Sources

References

"46 Rothschild Boulevard, Tel Aviv-Yafo – The "Levine House"". Amnon Bar Or – Tal Gazit Architects Ltd..
Brian Schaefer. (21 April 2013). "Tourist Tip #217 / The Old Russian Embassy". Haaretz.

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

buildings-and-structures-in-tel-aviv diplomatic-buildings houses-completed-in-1924

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