Beit Ha’Ir (the City House), the original Tel Aviv city hall on Bialik Street, is a small museum dedicated to the history of the city. The building, a charming 1920s structure on one of Tel Aviv’s quietest and most beautiful streets, houses exhibits on the founding and development of the city, from the 1909 lottery that divided the sand dunes into building plots to the modern metropolis that emerged from them.
The 1909 Lottery
The most famous moment in Tel Aviv’s founding story is preserved in a photograph: 66 Jewish families standing on the sand dunes north of Jaffa in 1909, drawing lots (seashells, white for one plot, gray for another) to determine who would receive which plot of land. The museum displays this photograph and tells the story of the lottery, the vision of building a “Hebrew city,” and the people who turned sand dunes into the first Hebrew-speaking city in 2,000 years.
Bialik Street
The street itself is worth the visit. Bialik Street is a short, pedestrian-friendly lane that was once the cultural heart of Tel Aviv, home to the national poet Hayim Nahman Bialik (whose house is now a museum), the painter Reuven Rubin (whose house is also a museum), and the municipal library. The concentration of cultural institutions on a single quiet street gives Bialik the feeling of a village inside a city, and the Bauhaus and eclectic architecture of the buildings makes it one of the most photogenic streets in Tel Aviv.
Visit with Hoshen Tours
Bialik Street and Beit Ha’Ir add cultural depth to Tel Aviv itineraries. Hoshen Tours walks the street and tells the story of the city’s founding through the buildings and the people who lived in them.