38 Balfour St., Tel Aviv-Yafo – The Pittman School

Background:
The building of the Pittman School of Commerce was constructed in the early 1920s on the corner of 38 Balfour and 53 Ahad Ha`am streets and it was originally known by as the “Moshe Greidinger House.”
There are no documents attesting as to the exact dates of the building’s construction, nor any plans, construction permits or completion certification, not to mention the mystery of the architect’s name. However, by 1926, some initial evidence was uncovered regarding its ownership by Mr. Nahum Vinerski.
In 1929, the building was purchased from Mr. Vinerski by a wealthy businessman, Moshe Greidinger, who immigrated to Palestine from London. Eventually, Greidinger became one of the founders of: the Eretz-Israel Refrigeration Company, a credit bank, the Israeli Company for Shipping and Supply, the “En Dor” Cinema, the “Armon” Cinema and Theater in Haifa and more …
In 1943, Greidinger gave half of this building to his daughter, Kyla (Kitty) and her husband. Later on, the other half was sold to the Shapira couple, who, in 1937, opened the School of Commerce and Stenography there, managed by Zvi Shapira and E. Lapin. The school operated on the basis of a teaching technique known as the “Pittman technique” and hence its name.
In 1941, architect Ben-Ami Shulman submitted plans to the Shapira couple for interior changes and building additions on the 1st and 2nd floors, alterations necessitated by the building’s use as a school. These plans were approved and teach us about the original plans of the building, retrieving some of the original information that had been lost.

Project Description:
A residential structure for preservation with a total area of 450 sqm. — part of a major, overall project covering over 3,200 sqm.
This project includes the planning of the preservation of the structure along with a new building, in tight collaboration with Bar Orian Architects, who are planning the new structure and issuing of detailed tenders for all the work on the premises. The preservation process includes, among other things, a complex process for supporting the building in order to dig the underground parking lots beneath it.

Project initiation: 2011
Project completion: 2015
Project Manager: Efrati Madpis Project Management
Photographer: Avi Levy