Byzantine House is a former synagogue in the

Jesmond Jesmond is a suburb of Newcastle upon Tyne, situated to the east of the Town Moor. Jesmond is considered to be one of the most affluent suburbs of Newcastle upon Tyne, with higher average house prices than most other areas of the city. H ...

neighbourhood of

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...

, in northeast England. It was originally conceived as a branch of the

Leazes Park Synagogue The Leazes Park Synagogue is a former synagogue in Leazes Park Road, Newcastle upon Tyne, England. The building was designed in 1880 by Scottish architect John Johnstone, who was also responsible for Newcastle's old town hall. It is a grade I ...

for families who had moved out of the city centre, but eventually founded in 1914 as an independent congregation. The synagogue, on Eskdale Terrace in Jesmond, was built in 1914–15 by Marcus Kenneth Glass in an

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

interpretation of

Byzantine Revival Neo-Byzantine architecture (also referred to as Byzantine Revival) was a revival movement, most frequently seen in religious, institutional and public buildings. It incorporates elements of the Byzantine style associated with Eastern and Ortho ...

style. The porch has a triple arcade and columns with lotus bud capitals. A large, sunburst, stained-glass window fills the huge Byzantine arch of the facade. The brickwork is coursed with alternating beige and red stripes. The synagogue was closed in 1986. The exterior has been carefully conserved; the interior was gutted and renovated for use as a school. It formed part of the Newcastle High School for Girls until 2016, when approval was granted for its conversion into flats. A commemorative plaque marking the building's previous use as a synagogue was unveiled in July 2019.

References

External links

Jesmond Hebrew Congregation
o
''Jewish Communities and Records – UK''
(hosted by ''jewishgen.org''). Former synagogues in England Art Deco synagogues Byzantine Revival synagogues Religion in Tyne and Wear Buildings and structures in Newcastle upon Tyne {{UK-synagogue-stub