The Early Days of the House
Tzvi Ya’akov Levin was born in Lithuania in 1856 and later immigrated with his family to Chicago, Illinois. Levin and his family loved Israel passionately; his mother immigrated to Israel in 1907 in order to be buried on the Mount of Olives and Levin founded the first Hebrew school in Chicago. “Every Jew is a Zionist, he might just not know it,” is what Levin used to say, and he lived by his word. In 1923, at the age of 65, he immigrated to Palestine to focus the rest of his life on building the country. During that same year he purchased a property on the corner of Rothschild Boulevard and Shadal Street in Tel-Aviv.
Levin hired architect Yehuda Mgidovic to design his home so that in the future it could fit the rest of his family who would move to Tel-Aviv in 1924 as soon as the house was complete.
Before his death in 1935, Levin planted many agricultural crops in Rehovot and donated to several institutions in Tel-Aviv. In his will he wrote, “I will rest peacefully if my heirs insure that all that I have left behind will remain in the hands of Jews. If my heirs will choose to make this land their home it will make my life’s dream complete.” Following his death his daughter wrote to the rest of the family: “If Tzvi had not climbed the stairs in his home so often, maybe he would have lived longer.” And so the plan to build an elevator in the house was born and was completed many years later. When Moshe Dov Levin, Tzvi’s son, left the country and its dwindling agricultural business, the remaining family could no longer maintain the house and began their journey back to the United States. Since then, however, most of Levin’s descendents have returned to settle in Israel.
The Russian Embassy
Once the Levin family left Israel in 1940 the building on 46 Rothschild Boulevard was rented for 38 Israeli pounds a month to the British Institute for English teaching, which was a school that taught the children of Tel-Aviv English language skills. In 1943 the house was sold to Moshe Brayer, an orthodox Jewish businessman from the United States; Brayer lived on the second floor of the building and the ground floor was turned into a bank.
During the British Mandate, the Haganah asked Brayer to use the house as its headquarters; it was from there that the Haganah soldiers launched operation Chametz in Jaffa. The building was returned to its rightful owner in August 1948; Brayer had hoped to demolish the existing house and replace it with a six-story high-rise. However, due to intense pressure from Moshe Sharett (Israel’s foreign minister at the time), the house was rented to the Russian diplomatic mission instead. Initially the agreement was for a short rental period of four months, but it ended up lasting five years. During this time the building was under heavy security and open to the public only once a year on the anniversary of the Russian Revolution. “The Russians ruined my building and my garden,” Brayer was quoted saying, “but we didn’t want to cause any trouble with them, and they kept saying they would be leaving very soon.”
On February 9th, 1953, three activists from the Lechi underground movement jumped over the fence and managed to reach the kitchen on the northern wall of the house without being detected. They planted an explosive device that caused severe damage to the property and hurt several staff, as well as the wife of the Deputy Ambassador, Claudia Yershova. Russia used this event as an excuse to end its diplomatic ties with Israel, claiming that the operation was condoned by the state.
HESEG House
In the late 1980s Moshe Brayers’ two sons sold the house on 46 Rothschild Boulevard to the businessman Alfred Akirov. After years of neglect the house was finally given a facelift when Akirov received a permit to build a skyscraper behind the house in exchange for agreeing to renovate it. In 1991 the house was declared a historic preservation site and was reconstructed by Avraham Yaski and Yosef Sivan’s architecture firm in cooperation with the offices of Amnon Bar-Or and Motti Bodek.
One of the house’s unique features is the pagoda. When the house was reconstructed, the workers were surprised to discover that the pagoda’s ceiling opens with a special mechanism to create a space at the top of the staircase. The mechanism may have been put in place to allow for moving larger pieces of furniture in and out of the house with greater ease. Another possible reason for this unique feature may have been that the Levin family used this area to build their sukkah every year. The Levin family also had two kitchens built in the house, one for Passover and one for the rest of the year.
From the 1990s until 2006 Sotheby’s art auctioneers rented the house for their offices and showrooms in Israel. In November 2006 the house was purchased by Canadians Gerald Schwartz and Heather Reisman; the couple donated the house to Keren HESEG, which is the philanthropic foundation they founded in Israel to award special academic scholarships to qualified candidates. HESEG means achievement in Hebrew.
Tzvi Ya’akov Levin was born in Lithuania in 1856 and later immigrated with his family to Chicago, Illinois. Levin and his family loved Israel passionately; his mother immigrated to Israel in 1907 in order to be buried on the Mount of Olives and Levin founded the first Hebrew school in Chicago. “Every Jew is a Zionist, he might just not know it,” is what Levin used to say, and he lived by his word. In 1923, at the age of 65, he immigrated to Palestine to focus the rest of his life on building the country. During that same year he purchased a property on the corner of Rothschild Boulevard and Shadal Street in Tel-Aviv.
Levin hired architect Yehuda Mgidovic to design his home so that in the future it could fit the rest of his family who would move to Tel-Aviv in 1924 as soon as the house was complete.
Before his death in 1935, Levin planted many agricultural crops in Rehovot and donated to several institutions in Tel-Aviv. In his will he wrote, “I will rest peacefully if my heirs insure that all that I have left behind will remain in the hands of Jews. If my heirs will choose to make this land their home it will make my life’s dream complete.” Following his death his daughter wrote to the rest of the family: “If Tzvi had not climbed the stairs in his home so often, maybe he would have lived longer.” And so the plan to build an elevator in the house was born and was completed many years later. When Moshe Dov Levin, Tzvi’s son, left the country and its dwindling agricultural business, the remaining family could no longer maintain the house and began their journey back to the United States. Since then, however, most of Levin’s descendents have returned to settle in Israel.
The Russian Embassy
Once the Levin family left Israel in 1940 the building on 46 Rothschild Boulevard was rented for 38 Israeli pounds a month to the British Institute for English teaching, which was a school that taught the children of Tel-Aviv English language skills. In 1943 the house was sold to Moshe Brayer, an orthodox Jewish businessman from the United States; Brayer lived on the second floor of the building and the ground floor was turned into a bank.
During the British Mandate, the Haganah asked Brayer to use the house as its headquarters; it was from there that the Haganah soldiers launched operation Chametz in Jaffa. The building was returned to its rightful owner in August 1948; Brayer had hoped to demolish the existing house and replace it with a six-story high-rise. However, due to intense pressure from Moshe Sharett (Israel’s foreign minister at the time), the house was rented to the Russian diplomatic mission instead. Initially the agreement was for a short rental period of four months, but it ended up lasting five years. During this time the building was under heavy security and open to the public only once a year on the anniversary of the Russian Revolution. “The Russians ruined my building and my garden,” Brayer was quoted saying, “but we didn’t want to cause any trouble with them, and they kept saying they would be leaving very soon.”
On February 9th, 1953, three activists from the Lechi underground movement jumped over the fence and managed to reach the kitchen on the northern wall of the house without being detected. They planted an explosive device that caused severe damage to the property and hurt several staff, as well as the wife of the Deputy Ambassador, Claudia Yershova. Russia used this event as an excuse to end its diplomatic ties with Israel, claiming that the operation was condoned by the state.
HESEG House
In the late 1980s Moshe Brayers’ two sons sold the house on 46 Rothschild Boulevard to the businessman Alfred Akirov. After years of neglect the house was finally given a facelift when Akirov received a permit to build a skyscraper behind the house in exchange for agreeing to renovate it. In 1991 the house was declared a historic preservation site and was reconstructed by Avraham Yaski and Yosef Sivan’s architecture firm in cooperation with the offices of Amnon Bar-Or and Motti Bodek.
One of the house’s unique features is the pagoda. When the house was reconstructed, the workers were surprised to discover that the pagoda’s ceiling opens with a special mechanism to create a space at the top of the staircase. The mechanism may have been put in place to allow for moving larger pieces of furniture in and out of the house with greater ease. Another possible reason for this unique feature may have been that the Levin family used this area to build their sukkah every year. The Levin family also had two kitchens built in the house, one for Passover and one for the rest of the year.
From the 1990s until 2006 Sotheby’s art auctioneers rented the house for their offices and showrooms in Israel. In November 2006 the house was purchased by Canadians Gerald Schwartz and Heather Reisman; the couple donated the house to Keren HESEG, which is the philanthropic foundation they founded in Israel to award special academic scholarships to qualified candidates. HESEG means achievement in Hebrew.
