Rothschild Boulevard is one of the principal streets in the center of Tel Aviv, beginning in Neve Tzedek at its southwestern edge and running north to Habima Theatre. It is one of the most expensive streets in the city, being one of the city’s main tourist attractions. It features a wide, tree-lined central strip with pedestrian and bike lanes. Rothschild Boulevard was the epicenter of the 2011 Israeli social justice protests.
Rothschild Boulevard was initially called “Street of the people”. Later, the residents requested it to be renamed in honor of Baron Edmond James de Rothschild. One house, on the corner of Rothschild Boulevard and Herzl Street, was built in 1909 by the Eliavson family, one of Tel Aviv’s sixty founding families. In 2007, the building was purchased and restored by the Institut Français.
Israel’s Declaration of Independence was signed at Independence Hall on Rothschild Boulevard. Many of the historic buildings are built in the Bauhaus or International style, forming part of the White City of Tel Aviv, a UNESCO-designated World Heritage Site. The 1925 Lederberg house, at the intersection of Allenby Street features a series of large ceramic murals designed by Ze’ev Raban a member of the Bezalel school. The four murals show a Jewish pioneer sowing and harvesting, a shepherd and Jerusalem, with a verse from Jeremiah 31:4, “Again I will rebuild thee and thou shalt be rebuilt.”
In 1995, the municipality held an architectural competition to design avenues. The architect Moti Bodek suggested using existing avenues ring as a backbone system consists of pedestrian ways and bicycle paths, target the urban activities of leisure sports and recreation along with restoration and rehabilitation of historic kiosks. The Boulevard is an arts district, with galleries including Alon Segev Gallery, and Sommer Contemporary Art.
