The Talk of Tel Aviv

In Israel's dynamic metropolis, a striking new hotel combines historic architecture, high design, and transcendent food.

- Maria Shollenbarger

ON ROTHSCHILD BOULEVARD, in the heart of Tel Aviv, sits one of the city's most beautiful examples of Bauhaus architecture. Number 48, built as a private residence in the 1930s, was purchased by Canadian philanthropists Heather Reisman and Gerry Schwartz in 1999. Their goal of opening a hotel in the building was realized last year: R48 debuted with 11 suites and has already become one of the city's most coveted bookings.

Architects Avital Gourary and Natanel Elfassy of Tel Aviv firm AN+ collaborated with the Israel Conservation Authority on the project, which saw the addition of a striking boxlike glass structure at the entrance, allowing natural light to pour in. Original elements have been carefully preserved, including an internal staircase and the thermometer-shaped windows that extend vertically up two corners of the building-a feature unique to Bauhaus architecture.