Vera Hotel on Lilienblum Street in Tel Aviv assumes the perfect position within three of the city’s distinct neighborhoods, so much so that it could be the heart of Tel Aviv itself. The city’s grandest thoroughfare, Rothschild Boulevard, home to the city’s burgeoning start-ups, shiny high-rises, and upmarket restaurants, is one street away. Just a touch south of Vera Hotel is the ‘hipster’ neighborhood of Florentin, where you will find small cafes overflowing with Mediterranean greenery and people with dreadlocks and flowing dresses reading old literary classics from Tolstoy to Nabokov. Or walk west and you will get to Neve Tzedek, where avant-garde fashion levels, al fresco cafes, jazz bars, and farmers’ markets compete for your time and attention. If you keep heading westward, you’ll even touch the soft sands of the famous Tel Aviv beach. For a local flavor and to sample Tel Aviv’s famous foods, there’s also Carmel Market nearby.
Eye-catching brass and copper furniture are placed against blackened steel chairs and stripped-back walls. \\\ Photo: Or Kaplan
Industrial chic meets green plants \\\ Photo: Or Kaplan
Vera Hotel occupies the perfect location for any kind of traveler looking to dip their feet in Tel Aviv’s many unique districts, but the hotel woos with its interiors as well. The Hotel is the first solo project of Tel Aviv native Danny Tamari, who took over a building which once was the city’s maternity hospital, then a bank, then an insurance office. After Mr. Tamari bought the abandoned building, he took two years to carefully and deliberately source for design elements to incorporate into his property.
The industrial-chic, 39-room project is the result of a collaboration between Tamari and local designer Yaron Tal and the architecture firm Asaf Solomon. After stripping back the interiors, the lobby was outfitted with bespoke furniture by independent furniture designer Tomer Nachshon, who counts the Northern Israeli city of Haifa as his home and who runs a manufacturing workshop there.
Illuminating the heavier oak, brown, and copper accents throughout the hotel are delicate, naked blown-glass lights by Ohad Benit, a soft-spoken and deeply self-reflective conceptual designer who runs his own label—Studio Mishmaacool—and whose lighting collection, Stress, is among his most well known and celebrated creations.
Designer Ohad Benit of Studio Mishmaacool speaks to Keshia Badalge of Design Milk about the design features of Vera Hotel. \\\ Photo: Or Kaplan
Ohad Benit’s glass balloon lighting for Vera Hotel \\\ Photo: Or Kaplan
Not only does Mr. Tamari have the foresight to collaborate with Tel Aviv’s up and coming talents (Ohad Benit, for example, later went on to work with COS), Tamari’s hotel is furthermore the culmination of his strong and sophisticated visual eye. The color palette throughout the hotel blends shiny copper and brass tones with muted colors and flourishing greenery for a soothing yet classy finish—you never once get the feeling that you’re at a chain hotel; in fact, you may often feel like you can take your shoes off wherever you are.
Keshia Badalge of Design Milk checking out the lobby desk \\\ Photo: Or Kaplan
The hotel’s ceiling is made from recycled ceramic tiles. \\\ Photo: Or Kaplan
The hotel lobby’s homey wood floors are complemented with rough plastered walls and a ceramic ceiling put together by upcycling floor tiles. The all day, help-yourself wine vending machine is an attraction not to be missed—decadent vintages from all over Israel make an appearance in this lobby, and can be sampled for free. The vending machine gives you the choice of a sip size, a medium glass or a full pour—so you can travel to all parts of Israel with your pink, whites, and red wines without getting too imbibed. When you find your favorite, you can have as much of it as you want.
The lobby and courtyard \\\ Photo: Assaf Pinchuk
The lobby extends into an open-air courtyard with palm prints and hanging greens. \\\ Photo: Or Kaplan
Bring your wine to your bedroom for an evening wind-down, or enjoy it in the open-air courtyard that hugs the hotel lobby. Better yet, bring it up to the bi-level rooftop, where you have a choice of lounge chairs for sunbathing or for heart-to-heart talks in the evening, or communal tables and couches for more family time and social interaction.
Heading to the rooftop \\\ Photo: Or Kaplan
The first floor of rooftop is more social, communal. \\\ Photo: Or Kaplan
The evening is the perfect time to bring your wine to the rooftop to watch the peachy glow of the sun reflect off the skyscrapers in the neighborhood. \\\ Photo: Assaf Pinchuk
Vera Hotel’s bi-level rooftop overlooks the trendy Lilienblum street. \\\ Photo: Assaf Pinchuk
When you finally get the chance to retreat to your bedroom, a mid-century modern-styled bed with grey pillows and silky-soft Egyptian cotton sheets welcomes you, accompanied either by sleek oak side tables or a writing desk (depending on room choice). Some rooms have slated wood doors that open fully onto a balcony overlooking Lilienblum St, where in the evening, you can watch restaurant goers flow and ease into some of Tel Aviv’s most notable restaurants along the street—for sweet-spicy soups and noodles at Hanoi or the perfectly well-seasoned burgers at Vitrinia Lili.
Midcentury modern desks, benches, and side tables stand out against a caramel leather couch and soft grey and white linens. \\\ Photo: Assaf Pinchuk
What: Vera Hotel
Where: Lilienblum St 27, Tel Aviv-Yafo
How much? Rooms start at $273
Design draw: Classy copper and brass tones throughout the hotel achieve an elegant, homey finish thanks to mid-century modern furniture, Mediterranean plants and delicate, naked light fixtures.
Book it: Visit Vera Hotel
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