Quick Facts
Biography
Akiva Arieh Weiss (Akiva Aryeh Weiss) (1868–1947) was one of the founders of Tel Aviv, Israel.
Weiss, a jeweler and watchmaker, was born within the Russian Empire. He immigrated from Russian Poland to Palestine in 1906.
As President of the then newly established Building Society, Weiss presided over the 1909 real estate lottery in which 66 Jewish families drew numbers written on seashells to determine the allocation of lots in the about-to-be established city of Tel Aviv.
Weiss was a founder of the textile industry in Mandatory Palestine, and built the earliest textile factory, the Lodzia House.
House
The cornerstone of Weiss's Tel Aviv house at #2 Herzl Street was laid in 1909. Originally a single-story structure, the upper floor was added in the 1920s. The house was restored between 1996 and 2011.
