​Bauhaus architecture was influenced by the German Bauhaus art school, one of the most prominent modernist art schools of the 20th century, and was brought to the eastern shores of the Mediterranean by young European architects fleeing Nazi tyranny. Over the next decade, these architects designed and built thousands of structures in Tel Aviv, resulting in a "White City" of Bauhaus architecture.

Today, many of the Bauhaus buildings, built in the 1930’s and 40’s, have been renovated and restored to their former glory. Collectively, they form the largest collection of Bauhaus buildings in a single city in the world. For this reason, Tel Aviv was designated by UNESCO as a World Cultural Heritage Site for "an outstanding example of new town planning and architecture in the early 20th century."