Allenby Area

The Tel Aviv municipality has been successful in maintaining this street’s older allure. It has always been extremely popular with the city’s artists, and a few years ago was totally renovated with good results. The street is named after Haim Nachman Bialik, the Hebrew poet laureate. It has many structures in prime condition, and it is second in Bauhaus collections only to Rothschild Boulevard.

The Bialik House (22 Bialik), the poet’s domicile, was built in 1925 by the architect Joseph Minor, one of the developers of a style of architecture called Hebrew Style – a combination of Western and Middle Eastern elements. These elements include a tower, domes, outdoor terraces, extensive tile work and pointed-arch windows. It’s a beauty.

The house contains books, letters and works given to Bialik by Israeli artists. There’s also a children’s room offering activities for kids relating to the poet’s famous nursery rhymes.

Another museum of an Israeli artist is the Reuven Rubin Museum (14 Bialik), who used to reside in this house until his death in 1974. It was built in 1930 and showcases his work on four different floors, his studio being on the third floor. There’s also the Museum of the History of Tel Aviv-Yafo (27 Bialik). A tour along Bialik street highlighting its history, the people who lived there and the architectural aspects of if, guided by the Bauhaus Center (03-522 0249) costs $15.