Erroneously considered the first neighborhood of Tel Aviv (Kerem Hateimanim was established 6 years earlier), the Neveh Tzedek neighborhood (est. 1887) was an important cultural center of the country in the 1920s. At that time many of the leading writers of Israel  resided there, among them Yosef Brenner, Alexander Ziskind Rabinovitch, S.Y. Agnon, David Shimonovitch, Asher Barash, S. Ben Tzion, Dvora Baron and her husband Yosef Aharonovitch - all central to the cultural foundation of the renewing Hebrew society. 

The apartment building where they lived on Kaplan St. served also for the seat of the Israeli Writers’ Association. After decades of dilapidation the complex was renovated in 1995 to become the Gutman Museum.

Initiated by the Council for the Preservation of Historic Sites and sponsored by the Tel Aviv Foundation, the work was carried out in two stages: 

The first stage focused on converting the domain into a museum, where the varied oeuvre of Gutman - painter/writer - is exhibited alongside art works depicting the establishment of Tel Aviv and the country as a whole. 

In the second stage (ending a year ago) a new wing was added adjacently, to include a lobby with a shop and a multi-purpose hall on the ground floor; a new exhibition hall and study rooms above; and youth workshops in the basement. At the front of the new building - to be connected in the future to the old one - is a small piazza for casual meetings and street events.

The complex is now a center of creative and cultural activities for both children and adults. Renovated in the ‘spirit of the place’, rather than as a precise model of the historic building, the sensitive complex preserves and reinforces the architectural values of the neighborhood. The details and proportions of the original building were freely interpreted, to enable optimal adaptation to the new functions. 

Roni Seibert - Architect and Town Planner.

Architects in charge: Gidon Shor, Udi Kremski.