Shalom Mayer Tower
מגדל שלום מאיר
|Location||Tel Aviv, Israel|
|Use||Government, Commercial, Residential|
|Architect(s)||Yitzhak Pearlstein, Gideon Ziv, Meir Levy|
Shalom Mayer Tower (Hebrew: מגדל שלום מאיר, Migdal Shalom Meir; commonly shortened to מגדל שלום, Migdal Shalom) is an office tower in Tel Aviv which contains a small commercial center. The Shalom Meir Tower was the first tall tower to be built in Israel. When its construction was completed in 1965, it rivaled the tallest buildings in Europe in height, and was the tallest in the Middle East. The tower has 34 floors and stands at a height of 142 m (466 ft). In its design, space under the tower was set aside for a future subway station, however, no subway has yet to be constructed in Tel Aviv and with the tower's importance being eclipsed by newer and taller structures in the city, even the subway lines now planned are not expected to pass under the tower.
The tower is located on the site of the Herzliya Hebrew High School. The school's architecturally and historically significant structure was razed and the school relocated in order to build the tower in 1962. This decision was later widely regretted despite the many benefits that the tower brought over the years.
The building was partially renovated in 2003-04. As part of the renovation, the top 3 floors were converted into 14 residential apartments, Tel Aviv's largest bar-restaurant, which accommodates more than 200 people at a time, is placed at the ground level, and the tower's maintenance costs were reduced by 20% by reducing the number of employees in the tower's operating staff.
50,000 cubic metres of concrete, 4,000 tons of steel, 35 kilometres of water pipes, and 500 kilometres of wiring were used in the tower. The building has a cream hue tile facade which was created especially for the tower and was manufactured in Italy. The retail promenade includes a huge mosaic mural wall by noted Israeli artist Nahum Gutman (1898-1980).