Zeev Rechter

Zeev Rechter was born in 1899 in Kovalivka

Zeev Rechter was born in 1899 in Kovalivka, in the Kherson Governorate of the Russian Empire. He began studying architecture at the polytechnic in Nikolaev. In 1919 he moved to the Land of Israel on the ship Ruslan, where he met his future wife, Paula Singer.

His first job was surveying the land of Allenby Street for the office of engineer Sasha Hissin. He later worked for a year as a draftsman in Jerusalem, then returned to Tel Aviv. In 1924 he designed Beit Hakadim, his first independent work, and added 10 more buildings by the end of 1926.

He studied engineering in Rome and then at the École des Ponts et Chaussées in Paris from 1929 to 1932, where he became a follower of Le Corbusier. Back in Tel Aviv in 1932, he founded the Hug group of architects with Arieh Sharon and Josef Neufeld. Beit Engel of 1933 was the first building in Tel Aviv built on columns.

His later works included Meir Hospital in Kfar Saba, Kaplan Hospital in Rehovot and Binyanei HaUma in Jerusalem. In 1957 he won the Rokach Prize. He died of a heart attack in 1960 and was buried in Nahalat Yitzhak Cemetery.