Montefiore

The Pagoda House is situated at the King Albert Square, between Nahmani and Montefiore Streets. The building, designed in an eclectic style, was designed and built by Architect Alexander Levy. Today it is considered one of the most impressive buildings ever built in the city at the time.

Alexander Levy (1883-1942) immigrated to Israel in 1920.
In 1927, after professional disputes and lack of work, he returned to Europe, disappointed. When World War II broke out, he was sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp, where he was killed.

Eclectic architecture was extremely common in Tel Aviv in the twenties, more or less a decade before the international style ("Bauhaus") began to spread. The eclectic style was characterized by combining and merging western classical features with eastern and middle-eastern building traditions and elements.    

King Albert Square is one of the smallest and most charming squares in Tel Aviv, with two large Ficus trees and a bench in the middle. The square was named after the Belgian monarch, Albert I (1875-1934), who visited the city in 1933. When the king was killed a year later, during a mountain climbing excursion, the city decided to name the square in his honor.

Standing to a height of 142 meters, Shalom tower (left) was the city's first skyscraper and the tallest building in the Middle East at the time.