Ahavas Shalom Reform Temple (originally, ''Ahavath Scholom'', also ''Ahavath Sholom'', "Lovers of Peace" or "Peace Loving")
) is an historic synagogue building located in
Ligonier,
Noble County, Indiana at 503 Main Street, built in 1889. It is located in the
Ligonier Historic District.
Description
Ahavas Shalom is a one-story, red brick building with
Gothic Revival
Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...
and
Romanesque Revival style design elements. It has a Greek cross plan and is topped by a steep cross-gabled roof. It features an entrance tower topped by a steep pyramidal roof, and
lancet window
A lancet window is a tall, narrow window with a pointed arch at its top. It acquired the "lancet" name from its resemblance to a lance. Instances of this architectural element are typical of Gothic church edifices of the earliest period. Lancet wi ...
s with
stained glass
Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...
, one of which features an illustration of the story of King
David
David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...
.
[ ''Note:'' This includes and Accompanying photographs.] The building was designed by Harry Matson, a
Fort Wayne, Indiana architect noted for designing several
opera house
An opera house is a theatre building used for performances of opera. It usually includes a stage, an orchestra pit, audience seating, and backstage facilities for costumes and building sets.
While some venues are constructed specifically for o ...
s in Indiana.
The interior of the synagogue contains a vestibule and a large sanctuary, whose floor slopes slightly west to east in the main seating area, which extends north to south across the majority of the sanctuary. On the eastern side there is a ''
bimah'', behind which is a projecting brick niche which originally contained the ''
aron kadesh'', where torah scrolls were kept. The original ''
ner tomid'' lamp was removed from its position over the bimah and was given to the Lakeside Congregation for Reform Judaism (now part of
Congregation Solel
Makom Solel Lakeside of Highland Park, Illinois, United States, traces its roots through two Reform Jewish Congregations, Congregation Solel and Lakeside Congregation for Reform Judaism that were founded in 1957 and 1955 respectively. The two came ...
) in
Highland Park, Illinois
Highland Park is a suburban city located in the southeastern part of Lake County, Illinois, United States, about north of downtown Chicago. Per the 2020 census, the population was 30,176. Highland Park is one of several municipalities located o ...
. The original sanctuary
pew
A pew () is a long bench (furniture), bench seat or enclosed box, used for seating Member (local church), members of a Church (congregation), congregation or choir in a Church (building), church, synagogue or sometimes a courtroom.
Overview
...
s were updated with more modern pews at some point in the 20th century.
Stylistically, the temple's architecture is an example of
Victorian Gothic design, with significant incorporation of
Richardsonian Romanesque
Richardsonian Romanesque is a style of Romanesque Revival architecture named after the American architect Henry Hobson Richardson (1838–1886). The revival style incorporates 11th and 12th century southern French, Spanish, and Italian Romanesque ...
styles, such as "deep, closely-spaced
corbel
In architecture, a corbel is a structural piece of stone, wood or metal jutting from a wall to carry a superincumbent weight, a type of bracket. A corbel is a solid piece of material in the wall, whereas a console is a piece applied to the s ...
s beneath the
spire
A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spires are ...
", the contrasting
polychromy between the red brick walls and stone
stringcourse
A belt course, also called a string course or sill course, is a continuous row or layer of stones or brick set in a wall. Set in line with window sills, it helps to make the horizontal line of the sills visually more prominent. Set between the fl ...
, and alternating rough-faced stone in the stringcourse set against the smooth-faced
voussoir
A voussoir () is a wedge-shaped element, typically a stone, which is used in building an arch or vault.
Although each unit in an arch or vault is a voussoir, two units are of distinct functional importance: the keystone and the springer. The ...
s of the window arches.
History
Ahavas Shalom is one of the few
surviving 19th-century synagogues in the United States.
Rediscovering Jewish Infrastructure: Update on United States Nineteenth Century Synagogues, Mark W. Gordon, American Jewish History 84.1 (1996) 20–27
2019 article update
Jews arrived in Ligonier in the 1850s, meeting in local homes or traveling to
Auburn, Indiana for lack of a synagogue in their new town. In 1858 the Ahavas Shalom Congregation was formed, continuing to meet in members' homes, especially those of the Strauss brothers (see below) and that of Joseph Kaufman. A Jewish cemetery was built in 1865, followed by a wooden synagogue building in 1867. This building was replaced by the present brick structure, then transported several blocks and placed next to the brick synagogue to serve as a Hebrew school; it was later demolished sometime in the first half of the 20th century, probably because the shrinking congregation no longer saw a need to repair what was likely by then a deteriorating building. The spot occupied by the old wooden synagogue was later used as the site of a modern
prefabricated building.
Rabbi
Isaac Meyer Wise
Isaac Mayer Wise (29 March 1819, Lomnička – 26 March 1900, Cincinnati) was an American Reform rabbi, editor, and author. At his death he was called "the foremost rabbi in America".
Early life
Wise was born on 29 March 1819 in Steingrub in ...
attended the dedication of the new synagogue building in 1889.
[ Prominent founders included the Strauss family, who donated one of the windows. The nearby Jacob Straus House, located at 210 South Main Street, has also been added to the National Register of historic places, and is open to visitors.][ Jacob organized the local school board, which built the town's first public school. Jacob's brother, Frederick Strauss, a ]wool-stapler
A wool-stapler is a dealer in wool. The wool-stapler buys wool from the producer, sorts and grades it, and sells it on to manufacturers.
Some wool-staplers acquired significant wealth, such as Richard Chandler of Gloucester (England) who built Wi ...
, served as mayor of Ligonier, and with his brother, co-founded the Strauss Brothers Bank. The Mier family donated another window; Frederick Mier was also a banker as well as owner of the Mier Carriage Company, which later became an automobile
A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with Wheel, wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, pe ...
manufacturer, and also served as mayor, while his brother Saul Mier established the city's first water works and sewer system. A ladies' auxiliary provided charity to needy Jews and Gentile
Gentile () is a word that usually means "someone who is not a Jew". Other groups that claim Israelite heritage, notably Mormons, sometimes use the term ''gentile'' to describe outsiders. More rarely, the term is generally used as a synonym for ...
s in the community.
At its peak, the congregation contained around sixty families, but as early as 1904 membership had declined to the point that the congregation no longer had a full-time rabbi
A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...
; instead, a rabbi traveled from South Bend, Indiana
South Bend is a city in and the county seat of St. Joseph County, Indiana, St. Joseph County, Indiana, on the St. Joseph River (Lake Michigan), St. Joseph River near its southernmost bend, from which it derives its name. As of the 2020 United S ...
for Friday services. In literature for the 1935 Ligonier Centennial, it was recorded that the synagogue's congregation had been meeting only for High Holy Days since 1932.
In 1954, the trustees of the Ahavas Shalom congregation sold the building to a Methodist
Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...
church, which occupied the building until 1961. The building was next sold to First Christian Church, which occupied the building until 1965, when it was sold to a Lutheran
Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...
congregation. In 1975, the building was sold to Trinity Assembly of God, which still occupied the structure at the time of its 1983 nomination. Ahavas Shalom was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
in 1983.[Sheldon, Betsy, The Jewish Travel Guide, Hunter Publishing, Inc, 2001, pp. 217–8.] The building was later purchased by the Ligonier Public Library Board of Trustees in 1989, and became the Ligonier Historical Museum, managed by the Ligonier Historical Society. The building was put up for sale by the board in 2015, after it found that it could no longer afford to maintain the building.
While the council searched for a new permamanent owner, title was temporarily transferred to Indiana Landmarks
Indiana Landmarks is America's largest private statewide historic preservation organization. Founded in 1960 as Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana by a volunteer group of civic and business leaders led by Indianapolis pharmaceutical execu ...
to enable the organization to replace the roof to avoid permament damage to the structure. In 2019, the building was purchased by Indianapolis couple Stacey and Greg Merrell, who converted it to their private home. A preservation easement donated to Indiana Landmarks protects the building's exterior and stained glass windows from modification.
Gallery
Notes
References
{{National Register of Historic Places in Indiana
History museums in Indiana
Synagogues on the National Register of Historic Places in Indiana
Gothic Revival architecture in Indiana
Romanesque Revival architecture in Indiana
Synagogues completed in 1889
Buildings and structures in Noble County, Indiana
National Register of Historic Places in Noble County, Indiana
Individually listed contributing properties to historic districts on the National Register in Indiana
Former synagogues in Indiana
Synagogues preserved as museums