Ben-Ami Shulman
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Ben-Ami Shulman (; July 7, 1907,
Jaffa Jaffa (, ; , ), also called Japho, Joppa or Joppe in English, is an ancient Levantine Sea, Levantine port city which is part of Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel, located in its southern part. The city sits atop a naturally elevated outcrop on ...
,
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– May 1986,
Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
) was an Israeli architect who was posthumously recognized as one of the significant 1930s architects of the modernist White City of
Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...
. The White City, which features the largest collection of
international style The International Style is a major architectural style and movement that began in western Europe in the 1920s and dominated modern architecture until the 1970s. It is defined by strict adherence to Functionalism (architecture), functional and Fo ...
architecture in the world, was designated a
UNESCO World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...
in 2003. This designation resulted from the efforts of both Israeli and German architectural historians, beginning in the 1980s, to document the history of the architecture. Preservation and restoration of these buildings, many of which were neglected due to the economy or insensitive additions, are underway, and eight of them have been designated as landmarks. Along with other 1930's Israeli architects, Shulman's work was documented in book form in 1994 by German photographer Irmel Kamp-Bandeau and in 2004 by Israeli architect, historian and preservationist Nitza Metzger-Szmuk. Shulman and his work are included in the international traveling exhibition based on her book ''Dwelling On The Dunes: Tel Aviv Modern Movement and Bauhaus Ideals''.
Positive/negative elements, such as rounded volumes or recessed prisms in the essentially flat facades were a specialty of Ben-Ami Shulman who designed buildings with a freedom reminiscent of plasticine modeling.


Life and career

Shulman was among several Israeli architects of his time, including Genia Averbuch and
Dov Karmi Dov Karmi (; ‎1905 – 14 May 1962) was an architect of Mandatory Palestine and Israel. Biography Dov Karmi was born in 1905, the son of Hannah and Sholom Weingarten, in Zhvanets, Russian Empire, in modern-day Ukraine. In 1921, the fami ...
, who studied architecture in
Brussels, Belgium Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...
and whose work, according to Nitza Metzger-Szmuk, demonstrates an unusual range of creativity when compared to architects trained at the Bauhaus or other schools. He studied under
Victor Horta Victor Pierre Horta (; Victor, Baron Horta after 1932; 6 January 1861 – 8 September 1947) was a Belgian architect and designer, and one of the founders of the Art Nouveau movement. He was a fervent admirer of the French architectural theoris ...
at the Academie Royale des Beaux-Arts, graduating in 1931 with a degree with honors in architecture and engineering. Horta's influence on Shulman has been identified by the extensive use of paneled glass walls on the facade of his 1938 Gruzenberg (Rosenberg) Street commercial building which was unusual in Tel Aviv at that time. Shulman designed the Zeire Zion pavilion for the
Jewish National Fund The Jewish National Fund (JNF; , ''Keren Kayemet LeYisrael''; previously , ''Ha Fund HaLeumi'') is a non-profit organizationProfessor Alon Tal, The Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, The Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben Gurion ...
exhibition in Brussels before returning to Tel Aviv, where he practiced residential and commercial architecture from 1931 to 1947. Shulman's innovative design for an apartment building at 3 Mapu Street in 1937 became the focus of an unusual coalition of prominent architects of the time who supported his efforts to fight the city's municipal building department, who had rejected the plan for the building. Shulman's skillful creation of a "cubist and precise" sense of monumentality for a modest building was noted by architect/planner Nahoum Cohen in ''Bauhaus Tel Aviv: An Architectural Guide''. Although it had deteriorated over the years, it was restored in 2012 by architect and conservationist Mimar Naor, and commemorated with a plaque highlighting its originality. Views of the restoration are included in a new book ''Preservation and Renewal- Bauhaus and International Style Buildings in Tel Aviv'' published by Bauhaus Center Tel Aviv. The political and economic difficulties of 1947 led Shulman and other architects to emigrate in search of work. Shulman moved to
Montreal, Quebec Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...
, Canada, where he practiced residential and commercial architecture until 1960, when he moved to
Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
. There, he set up a practice with his son, architect Uzi Shulman, also a graduate of the Academie Royale des Beaux-Arts. Ben-Ami Shulman adapted his modernism to the diversity of Southern California mid-century styles of architecture. Shulman visited Israel frequently after his emigration, but did not try to promote his 1930's Tel Aviv architecture. He died in 1986. A few years later his son Uzi was contacted by architectural historians about his father's Tel Aviv work. Shulman's Tel Aviv period and his Los Angeles work were the subject of a 2015 exhibition,
Some Shulman Architecture
', at the
American Institute of Architects The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is a professional organization for architects in the United States. It is headquartered in Washington, D.C. AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach progr ...
Los Angeles chapter.


Landmarks

Eight of Shulman's buildings in Tel Aviv have been designated as landmarks:Metzger-Szmuk (2004), p.356-58 * 1933 57 Nachalat-Binyamin * 1934 8 Dov Hoz Street * 1934 34 Nachmani Street * 1935 106 Dizengoff Street/41 Frishman Street * 1935 147 Yirmiyahu Street * 1935 21 Nachalat-Binyamin Street * 1935 31 Rosenberg Street * 1937 3 Mapu Street


References

Notes Bibliography * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Shulman, Ben-Ami 1907 births Architects from Mandatory Palestine 20th-century Israeli architects Modernist architects International style architects Israeli architects 1986 deaths Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Brussels alumni Israeli emigrants to Canada Canadian emigrants to the United States