The White City Center Archive
The White City Center Archive is an innovative urban project that aims to collect historical information from various sources - the Tel Aviv-Yafo municipal archive, private collections and other archives in Israel and abroad - and make it accessible to the general public.
The archive will operate using an easy-to-use digital platform, accessible to residents and curious tourists, as well as professional planners, historians and researchers. The knowledge accumulated in the archive will support the extensive activities of the White City Center, facilitate research and development, and serve as a platform for open, lively discussion that will expand the boundaries of discourse about the architecture of the White City.
The historical information stored in the archive focuses on the international style architecture and the urban life that has developed in Tel Aviv during the 1930s and 1940s. The focus on the architecture of the White City will not be limited to materials, style or form, and instead explore the city’s rich, multilayered history through content that captures the spirit of time and place. Urban plans and international style buildings were means designed to enable the daily routines of residents and visitors; this urban lifestyle weaved a rich and complex fabric of neighborly coexistence: from the idle sitting on the balcony, through labor and leisure, to culture, creativity and thought experienced across the
burgeoning city.
The information stored in the White City Center Archive will be cataloged by buildings, sites, architects, contractors, businesses, residents etc. its thematic structure will capture and reveal the layers of historical context related to the architecture of the White City, providing a new perspective on current issues of urban planning and life in the city.
The archive includes a wide and varied array of historical materials, including blueprints, maps, aerial photographs, photographs, audio recordings, video recordings, posters, press clippings, physical models, furniture, fashion and clothing items, official documents, letters and private correspondence and many more objects.
We invite you to take part in the creation of the archive - send us photographs, letters, blueprints and other materials documenting life in Tel Aviv in the 1930s and 1940s. With your help, the archive will be able to develop, expand and eventually function as a vibrant source of knowledge in the heart of the city in which it operates.
