The Roof-top synagogue was a private synagogue built on the roof of the home of

Philip Salomons Philip Salomons (1796–1867) was an English financier, Jewish leader and High Sheriff of Sussex. Early life Philip Salomons was born in London in 1796. He travelled extensively in the United States as a young man, and became a naturalized Ameri ...

on the Regency-era Brunswick estate in

Hove Hove is a seaside resort and one of the two main parts of the city of Brighton and Hove, along with Brighton in East Sussex, England. Originally a "small but ancient fishing village" surrounded by open farmland, it grew rapidly in the 19th cen ...

, now a constituent part of the English city of

Brighton and Hove Brighton and Hove () is a city and unitary authority in East Sussex, England. It consists primarily of the settlements of Brighton and Hove, alongside neighbouring villages. Often referred to synonymously as Brighton, the City of Brighton and H ...

. It is a small octagonal edifice on the top of a glass room forming part of the fourth floor (in British terminology, not counting basement or ground floors), in reference to the

Dome of the Rock The Dome of the Rock ( ar, قبة الصخرة, Qubbat aṣ-Ṣakhra) is an Islamic shrine located on the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem, a site also known to Muslims as the ''al-Haram al-Sharif'' or the Al-Aqsa Compound. Its initial ...

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

History

Brunswick Terrace, built in four parts facing the

English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...

coast on Hove seafront, was part of the Brunswick estate development laid out at the extreme east end of Hove following the rapid growth of neighbouring Brighton in the early 19th century, and particularly in response to

Kemp Town Kemp Town Estate, also known as Kemp Town, is a 19th-century Regency architecture residential estate in the east of Brighton in East Sussex, England, UK. It consists of Arundel Terrace, Lewes Crescent, Sussex Square, Chichester Terrace, and ...

. Although within the parish of Hove, it was closer to the boundary of Brighton and was considered part of the latter. The estate was laid out by

Amon Henry Wilds Amon Henry Wilds (1784 or 1790 – 13 July 1857) was an English architect. He was part of a team of three architects and builders who—working together or independently at different times—were almost solely responsible for a surge in resid ...

and Charles Busby between 1824 and 1828. The terrace, described as an "elegant Regency block", has Grade I listed status. The Salomons family moved into 26 Brunswick Terrace in the early 1850s. The interior was badly damaged by fire on 4 September 1852, but was restored. At some point between then and his death in 1867, he commissioned an unknown architect to design and build a private synagogue and prayer-room on the roof of the house. In common with the eastern half of Brunswick Terrace, only this, the central house, has a fourth floor above the portico. It was the subject of an acrimonious debate between Salomons and the members of the

Middle Street Synagogue, Brighton The Middle Street Synagogue is a synagogue in the centre of Brighton, part of the English city of Brighton and Hove. It was the centre for Jewish worship in Brighton and Hove for more than a century. Although it is not in full-time use, the bu ...

, since private synagogues violated the Laws of the Congregation. In Salomons' lifetime, the synagogue displayed his fine collection of antique Judaica. For a period after his death, it was turned into a Jewish history museum. The Tablets of the Ten Commandments from the synagogue are preserved in the collection of the

Salomons Museum The Salomons Museum is a museum north of Tunbridge Wells, in the county of Kent, southeast England. It preserves the country house of Sir David Salomons, the first Jewish Lord Mayor of London, and of his nephew, Sir David Lionel Salomons, a scien ...

Tunbridge Wells Royal Tunbridge Wells is a town in Kent, England, southeast of central London. It lies close to the border with East Sussex on the northern edge of the Weald, High Weald, whose sandstone geology is exemplified by the rock formation High Roc ...

. The synagogue is now 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 ...

. The house is still in use as a private residence – the whole top floor forming one of the building's several flats. The cupola and base can be seen from the lawns on the promenade.

Architecture

The synagogue is a pedimented, Neoclassical cube with glass from waist height, surmounted by an octagonal dome set atop an octagonal drum.Robert Németh
26 Brunswick Terrace
9 November 2010, retrieved 23 August 2018 Today it contains bench seating for approximately six people, around the edges. The large dome was intended as a replica of the

. The roof-top synagogue is one of a considerable number of synagogues and synagogue domes built in the form of an octagon, a tradition that developed from the once widely held opinion that the architects of the Dome of the Rock emulated the shape of the

Temple in Jerusalem The Temple in Jerusalem, or alternatively the Holy Temple (; , ), refers to the two now-destroyed religious structures that served as the central places of worship for Israelites and Jews on the modern-day Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusa ...

and, therefore, that the ancient Jewish Temple was octagonal in shape. An example of this opinion can be seen in

Raphael Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, better known as Raphael (; or ; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. List of works by Raphael, His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of ...

's ''

The Marriage of the Virgin The Marriage of the Virgin is the subject in Christian art depicting the marriage of the Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph. The marriage is not mentioned in the canonical Gospels but is covered in several apocryphal sources and in later redactions, n ...

References

Notes

Bibliography

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External links

Brighton's First Jewish Congregations (to 1874)
o
''Jewish Communities and Records – UK''
(hosted by ''jewishgen.org''). {{coord, 50.8236, -0.1607, display=title Grade II listed buildings in Brighton and Hove Jews and Judaism in England Neoclassical synagogues Round and octagonal synagogues Synagogues in Brighton and Hove Former religious buildings and structures in Brighton and Hove Former synagogues in England