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synagogue designed by little-known Australian Jewish architect FrederickMarks in 1904-5. Oriental style was by then going out of fashion for synagogues in Europe. Closed in 1974, in an area that suffered from a synagogue overbuild in the early twentieth century (Willesden, Cricklewood, Dollis Hill etc), it eventually (1993) became the Imam Al-Khoei Foundation and is well suited to its new role, inside boasting aMihrab niche on the wall facingMecca.
LONDON Hammersmith Synagogue Now the Chinese Church in London. Sold by the United Synagogue through a third party in 2001, the former Hammersmith Synagogue is now a hub for the Cantonese-speaking community around leafy Brook Green. It was the last remaining synagogue in this part ofWest London (Notting Hill, Shepherd’s Bush, Fulham), whose Jewish communities have all but disappeared. The building was designed and extended (in 1890-6) by Delissa Joseph who lived nearby and who is best known for underground stations in Edwardian London.
Numerous synagogues have been turned into churches, just as churches were turned into synagogues, a pattern of recycling of places of worship common to many inner cities.
LONDON Brondesbury Synagogue (above) Now ‘the premier Shi’amosque’ in London. The green copper-covered onion domes and horseshoe arches are original features of this
Synagogues sometimes find a new lease of life as places of worship of newer immigrant groups: mosques, temples and gudwaras.
BRIGHTON, Devonshire Place Synagogue (right) Brighton’s Regency synagogue is now up- market apartments as well as a heritage landmark. This was Brighton’s first purpose- built synagogue and was designed in 1836-8 by DavidMocatta,Anglo-Jewry’s first architect, who is commemorated in a blue plaque on the front. It closed in 1875 on the move toMiddle Street and by the 1990s the attractive terrace, along with Brighton itself, was in need of a facelift. The run-down gym was rescued by a canny developer and the Grade II building was converted into nine flats in 2007, retaining original features
throughout.At the request of Jewish Heritage, the painted-out inscription ‘JEWS SYNAGOGUE 5598’was reinstated on the pediment and the building is now on the itinerary of Jewish walking tours of Brighton.
Listed synagogues can be converted to residential or commercial use if approached sensitively and if the economic and social context allows.
EUROPEAN ACCOLADE FOR BRiTiSH SYNAGOGUES
Ten of the finest synagogues in Britain have been nominated for the European Routes of Jewish Heritage. Included in the Council of Europe’s programme ‘ACommon Heritage’, the Jewish ‘Routes’have been awarded the prestigious status of ‘Major Cultural Route’, one of only seven such routes being created across Europe. Jewish Heritage’s Director Dr Sharman
Kadish said, “The British synagogues chosen hold their own againstmajor Jewish landmarks in Europe, amongst them Prague’smedievalAltneuschul, Amsterdam’s Esnoga and the Ghetto of Venice. Unlike them, our synagogues have remained in use since they were built. They
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celebrate Jewish continuity as well as our architectural heritage.” The top 10, chosen on the grounds of
age and architectural beauty, and to give representation to different parts of the country, are: BevisMarks and the NewWest End in London, Liverpool’s Princes Road, Brighton’sMiddle Street, Ramsgate’s Montefiore Synagogue andMausoleum, Plymouth Synagogue, Birmingham’s Singers Hill,Manchester JewishMuseum, Glasgow’s Garnethill and Bradford Synagogue (right). Learn more about the interesting story of Bradford’s Jews in ThE JEWS OF YOrKShirE in January’s JR.
The Repair Grant Scheme for Listed Places of Worship, run by English Heritage and funded through the Heritage Lottery Fund, welcomes applications from historic synagogues. For more information contact Jewish Heritage, tel: 0161 238 8621, and/or visit
www.jewish-heritage-uk.org
Photos Courtesy of English heritage
dr Sharman Kadish is director of Jewish heritage UK and author of companion architectural guides Jewish Heritage in England and Jewish Heritage in Gibraltar. her latest book The Synagogues of Britain and Ireland (Yale University Press) was reviewed in the July 2011 issue of JR.
JEWiSh rEnaiSSanCE OCTOBEr 2011
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