Background:
In 1921, Joel Leitz and Chaim Soroka built a one-storey building with two apartments on two adjacent lots in Nahlat Binyamin neighborhood in Tel Aviv. The planning was done by architect Zvi Tabachnik. This building became one the first houses built on the northern part of the street, the current pedestrian walkway.

In 1925, the owners added another floor, once again with two apartments, and a tiled roof. An intriguing fact is that, despite spreading across two lots under different ownership, the whole construction was built and functioned as a single building with a joint stairwell.
The building boasts an impressive Eclectic-Style façade facing the street.

In 1926, a process was begun to alter the street-side façade to make it commercial. This process was implemented in most of the buildings along Nahlat Binyamin St. with the transfer of commerce from Jaffa to Tel Aviv, marking the change in the original designation of the neighborhood, which had been planned to include residential buildings surrounded by gardens.
The conversion of ground-floor rooms into shops and the opening up of the façade with large show-windows damaged the design of the main façade, leaving almost nothing of its original magnificence.

Over the years since then, these lots passed through several hands and, currently, the building is in bad repair, making it difficult to identify the original structure.

Project Description:
During the years in which our office has been working on the building (since 1987), several plans have been prepared for the various owners of the lots.
These days, following the initiative of the Meyzamim Company, a program is being promoted to reunite the two lots and to preserve the building by restoring the impressive commercial and residential façade, preserving the front part of the building and adding 3 floors at the back of the lot. The planned building includes apartments of varying sizes and street-level shops.

Project initiation year: 2007

 
Project Initiator: Meyzamim Company and “Gaia”, on behalf of the purchase group.
Project Manager: Tal Ben Nun (“Meyzamim”)