Carl Rubin (architect)

Historic photograph showing a celebratory crowd outside the Dizengoff House (now Independence Hall) for the Israeli Declaration of Independence, 14 May 1948

Carl Rubin (24 June 1899–7 February 1955) was an Israeli architect known for his work in the international style. He designed many of the iconic buildings in this style in Tel Aviv.

Biography

Carl Rubin was born in 1899 in Sniatyn in Galicia. He studied architecture in Vienna. In 1920, Rubin immigrated to Eretz Israel, settling in Tel Aviv. In 1931, Rubin returned to Berlin to work for Erich Mendelsohn, an Allenstein-born Jewish architect whose architectural philosophy influenced Rubin's later designs.

In 1932, Rubin moved back to Tel Aviv and opened his own architectural office, contributing to the development of Tel Aviv and UNESCO's later recognition of the "White City" as a World Heritage Site.

Projects

Rubin designed numerous residential complexes in Tel Aviv. One of these buildings, Rothschild Boulevard 85, designed in 1932, sold for 7 million dollars in 2007.

One of Rubin's important designs was his remodelling of the building that became Israel's Independence Hall (at Rothschild Boulevard 16). In 1932, Rubin resigned the home of Mayor of Tel Aviv Me'ir Dizengoff, who donated it to the city as the first home of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art.

In 1935–1936, Rubin designed the Beit Hadar office building, the first in Tel Aviv with a steel frame structure.