Neve Tzedek (Dwellings of Justice) was established in 1887, 22 years before Tel Aviv was founded, by a small group of Jewish families seeking to live outside of the overcrowded port city of Jaffa. By the beginning of the twentieth century, Neve Tzedek had become home to many artists and writers, including Nobel Prize-winning author S.Y. Agnon. In 1914, the Eden Theater, the first cinema in pre-state Israel, was up and running in Neve Tzedek. While Tel Aviv continued to expand to the north and east in the early days of the state, Neve Tzedek was left to deteriorate, with old houses and streets literally crumbling away.
In the 1980s, the neighborhood began to recapture its former glory through the restoration of buildings and the establishment of the Suzanne Dellal Centre. It has since become a stylish neighborhood with many restaurants, trendy cafés and bars, galleries, designer shops, and boutique hotels. Made up of about a dozen tiny streets crammed with one- and two-story homes in various stages of renovation, Neve Tzedek’s rich history is constantly being discovered and celebrated by modern architects and designers. The gorgeous architecture, packed within quiet narrow lanes, along with the relaxed manner of the neighborhood’s residents, make the neighborhood of Neve Tzedek, Tel Aviv a gem of a place to spend an afternoon.
Historical sites include: The Home of the Writers. which became the Nahum Gutman Museum, a building that housed important thinkers and writers such as Yosef Haim Brenner, Devorah Baron, and Yossef Aharonovitch; Shimon Rokah’s home; the Suzanne Dellal Centre; and the Sheloush home.