Cafes and bicycle paths on the way to the sea: on the square renovation project, which is celebrating its centenary

The historic Opera Square in Tel Aviv, where Herzl's coffin was placed, has over the years become a desolate and wasted place on the coastal strip.

This will change soon, because the municipality is currently planning a project worth NIS 35 million to upgrade the complex.

Huldai: "The works to renovate the square will help restore the old crown"

Two Frumkin

23/01/2022

Sunday, 23 January 2022, 18:20 Updated: 18:24

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For years, the old "Opera Square" at the end of the Tel Aviv promenade has not invited many visitors. In the shadow of its glorious urban and national history, the square has become a rather marginal, desolate and wasted spot on the world-renowned coastline. All this will change this year, when the Tel Aviv Municipality is currently working on a project costing NIS 35 million to upgrade the complex, for its renewed flowering. "We want to inspire, innovate. I think once you invest in a high-level public space development - lighting, reducing car use, flooring, architectural language, invested elements, a special fountain - there is usually an immediate awakening of the private market," he says in a conversation with Walla! City architect Yoav David, "The focus that was significant almost a century ago - is getting renewed in the coming year."

In its early days, in the 1920s, the square was known as "Casino Square", named after "Gali Aviv Casino" - an upscale restaurant located on the seafront, and hosted mostly intellectuals, upper class and distinguished.

To connect the city to the "casino", the path of Allenby Street, which was parallel to the sea, was changed so that it sailed west, and there the "square" was born - the only point in the city where a main street meets the sea.

"We know the system of streets in Tel Aviv: most of the main streets are north-south streets, most of them have an orientation parallel to the coastal axis," explains David, "and here in this area - Tel Aviv of yesteryear - A special square. "

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"In the very special meeting of Allenby and the sea, a special square was created" (Photo: Official website, Willy Polender collection, courtesy of the municipal archives of the Jaffa Municipality)

Along with its popular nickname after the "casino", the first official name of the square was "Herbert Samuel Square", after the first Jewish-British High Commissioner and his visit to the city in 1922. In the following years, beaches in the area were arranged, and the famous Hotel San Remo was opened next to the square - while the "casino" was abandoned. Natan Alterman later wrote about the place: "If you had entered it at night, when the sea breeze whistled like in a crime movie, if you had passed it by the light of a hesitant candle, you would have awakened in its many damp corners the love and songs and characters of this city. "Neglected and crumbling." In 1939 the iconic structure was destroyed in a controlled explosion, and at the same time the promenade was erected.

A decade later, and shortly after the establishment of the state, the square found another significant incarnation, when it became the "Knesset Square": in 1949, the Knesset session began, beginning in Jerusalem straight to Tel Aviv.

The Knesset was located in the "Magic Cinema" building, which had been built four years earlier next to the hotel and boasted the unique triple colonnade - one of the symbols of the complex.

The San Remo rooms were then used as bureaus of Knesset members.

Herzl's coffin in the Knesset Square, behind the Kesem Cinema building (Photo: Official website, Nahalat HaKalal)

Even before the Knesset returned to Jerusalem in December - in August, the coffin of the Herzl State Treaty was brought to Israel, and placed in the square in a ceremony that lasted into the night, with the arrival of hundreds of thousands of citizens.

Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion delivered a speech at a meeting held at the Kesem Cinema ahead of the event, in which he announced that the path of Herzl's coffin to the Jerusalem mountains "will not be a mourning procession, but a victory march."

Decades later, in 1958, the Israeli Opera came to the "Magic Cinema", and with it came the nickname that accompanies the square to this day - "Opera Square".

The building was home to the opera until its dismantling due to a lack of budget in 1982.

In the late 1980s, access to Allenby was even blocked, and the hotel and cinema buildings were demolished, and in 1993 the Opera Tower was built on the unification of the plots - preserving the design of the symbolic colonnade.

"Developing a new plaza with open views of the sea" (Photo: Official website, collection of Dr. Shmuel Smetnik, courtesy of the municipal archives of the Jaffa Municipality)

"Open glances to the sea"

According to Mayor Ron Huldai, the guiding principles for the renovation project, which began earlier this month through the Atarim company, are giving priority to pedestrians and cyclists in the complex and expanding access from Allenby to the sea.

In this context, Huldai explains that he promotes the connection of all the beaches of the promenade from Herzliya to Bat Yam.

"One of the main issues I have been systematically promoting for more than 20 years is what I call 'opening the city to the sea,'" says the mayor. "The city has a beautiful coastline. The works to renovate the Opera Square will help restore the old crown, while creating an open and invested public space."

"Like at intersections we know from Japan", renovation of Opera Square (Photo: Honi HaMa'agal)

"Developing a new plaza with open views to the sea," describes the city architect, "three rows of trees will accompany pedestrians on their way to the sea. We expect there to be cafes and eateries - take out tables, chairs, umbrellas."

According to him, a large plaza is planned that can accommodate a street market and rotating fairs.

Also, the large fountain will be upgraded with new water-spraying technology so that it can sit on its sidewall.

"These are things that will give this place a dynamic walking activity. Above all, we think it's part of the beach promenade - the language of the place will be similar to that of the beach promenade, we will enter with the same elements of flooring."

Among the traffic upgrades in the complex, a light rail station will be built near the square, a bicycle path will be installed, and the crossing will be widened to the promenade, "as at intersections we know from Japan."

In addition, non-essential vehicles will not be allowed to enter the compound.

"The large fountain will be upgraded with new water spray technology" (Photo: Official website, Tel Aviv Municipality)

"Opera Square" is just one focus within the parallel projects to be completed in the area, including the establishment of a community water sports center on the surfers beach, which will replace the dolphinarium and include the beach expansion, and a comprehensive change on Herbert Samuel Street. "It does not attract crowds," David testified about the street, noting that in the planning: "Reduce the use of the vehicle and eliminate the service road, which is a place where nothing naughty happens; "Large, awake and renewed with a commercial wall; and to create a pedestrian environment with shading areas and seating areas. Then it is clear that Opera Square is becoming a very important focus."

"The municipality has restored and renovated the Shlomo Lahat Chich promenade - a project that created a great connection between the pedestrian area and the beach, the grandstands. The whole meeting with the beach in recent years is a meeting that has a lot of public demand," says the city architect. Its next step.It's a really significant place.Really Sea Square.It's a gift. "

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