Schocken Library

The Schocken Library features a striking facade of rough-hewn Jerusalem stone and clean, horizontal lines that contrast with the classical style of its surrounding villas. Salman Schocken, a department store tycoon and publisher, commissioned Erich Mendelsohn to design this building in nineteen thirty-four to house his collection of rare Hebrew manuscripts and books. Schocken wanted a sanctuary for scholarship in the middle of a city he was helping to modernize. The library remains a quiet, precise anchor in the neighborhood.