The Leazes Park Synagogue is a former

synagogue A synagogue, ', 'house of assembly', or ', "house of prayer"; Yiddish: ''shul'', Ladino: or ' (from synagogue); or ', "community". sometimes referred to as shul, and interchangeably used with the word temple, is a Jewish house of worshi ...

in Leazes Park Road,

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 ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. The building was designed in 1880 by

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

John Johnstone, who was also responsible for Newcastle's old town hall. It is a grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

, whose elaborate two-storey

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

frontage was designed in the North Italian style. The ''Newcastle Old Hebrew Congregation'' traces its roots back to 1838 and the founding of Temple Street Synagogue, which merged with the Charlotte Square Synagogue to form the ''Newcastle United Hebrew Congregation''. The amalgamated congregation moved into the new synagogue on Leazes Park Road, which was

consecrated Consecration is the solemn dedication to a special purpose or service. The word ''consecration'' literally means "association with the sacred". Persons, places, or things can be consecrated, and the term is used in various ways by different grou ...

on 25 August 1880. There were further mergers in 1924 and 1973, but the Leazes Park Synagogue continued to serve as one of the synagogues of the united congregation until its final closure service on 3 May 1978. The Culzean Park Synagogue in

Gosforth Gosforth is a suburb of the city and metropolitan borough of Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It constituted a separate Urban district (Great Britain and Ireland), urban district from 1895 until 1974 before officially merging with the city of New ...

is now Newcastle's only active

Orthodox Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pag ...

synagogue. The synagogue was extended in the 1920s. The synagogue had a basement schoolroom and a Jewish Sports club was formed there in 1934. The Leazes Park Synagogue building was put to use as a shopping arcade until a fire destroyed the interior in 1989. Restoration was completed by 1996 and it is now used for student accommodation.Timarchive2.freeuk.com. ''Leazes.''
Retrieved 18 March 2017.

References

Former synagogues in England Religion in Tyne and Wear Buildings and structures in Newcastle upon Tyne Grade II listed buildings in Tyne and Wear Grade II listed religious buildings and structures {{UK-synagogue-stub

See also

References