A group of 60 families, consisting of middle–class Jews, started the Homebuilders Society in 1906 with the intention of creating a new Jewish suburb close to Jaffa. A couple of years later, this group was renamed Ahuzat Bayit. An important member of this group was Meir Dizengoff, who later on became the Mayor of Tel Aviv when it was converted to a city. Dizengoff envisaged a city where Arabs and Jews followed a policy of peaceful co–existence. Slowly the Ahuzat Bayit grew in size and included two suburbs established nearby. This new settlement was to be a "Hebrew urban centre in a healthy environment, planned according to the rules of aesthetics and modern hygiene", remarked Arthur Ruppin. In 1909, construction of the city started and within a year Herzl, Ahad Ha´am, Rothschild Streets had been completed. In May 1910, the common name of Tel Aviv was formally adopted. What was earlier envisioned to be a garden suburb akin to the Europeans had turned into a full–blown attractive community settlement.
