The Severn Street Synagogue, founded in 1809 and opened in 1813 as a

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 wor ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...

, England, is now the Athol

Masonic Hall A Masonic Temple or Masonic Hall is, within Freemasonry, the room or edifice where a Masonic Lodge meets. Masonic Temple may also refer to an abstract spiritual goal and the conceptual ritualistic space of a meeting. Development and history In ...

History

Severn Street was newly carved out of the former Gooch Estate when the synagogue was founded in 1809. The synagogue building was completed in 1813, and that year was badly damaged in a riot directed at non-

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of t ...

s that also severely damaged the

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 ...

Church in Belmont Row,

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abili ...

Meetinghouse near Lady Well, and the

Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only ( believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul c ...

Chapel in Bond Street.Old and new Birmingham: a history of the town and its people, Robert Kirkup Dent, Houghton and Hammond, 1880p. 364 The synagogue was sold to the

Freemasons Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

in 1856 after the construction of the

Singers Hill Synagogue The Birmingham Hebrew Congregation, commonly known as the Singers Hill Synagogue, is an Orthodox Jewish synagogue in Birmingham, England. The synagogue is a Grade II* listed building, comprising 26, 26A and 26B Blucher Street in the city centre. ...

Architecture

The synagogue was rebuilt by architect Richard Tutin (1796–1832) in

Greek Revival The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States and Canada, but a ...

style 1825–1827. The

Torah Ark A Torah ark (also known as the ''Heikhal'', or the ''Aron Kodesh'') refers to an ornamental chamber in the synagogue that houses the Torah scrolls. History The ark, also known as the ''ark of law'', or in Hebrew the ''Aron Kodesh'' or ''aron ha- ...

was retained by the

with only slight modifications. Its handsome, fluted

Doric columns The Doric order was one of the three orders of ancient Greek and later Roman architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian. The Doric is most easily recognized by the simple circular capitals at the top of col ...

and classical entablature remain. The Master's Chair is placed in the former Torah Ark niche.

Sharman Kadish Sharman Kadish (born 1959) is a contemporary scholar, author, historian and preservationist. Biography Kadish was born in London, England, of Russian Jewish descent. Her father was the artist Norman Maurice Kadish. She was educated at Univer ...

, ''Jewish Heritage in England: An Architectural Guide'',

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

, 2006, pp. 121–2 The adjacent banqueting hall, decorated with Stars of David, was added for the Freemasons by architect Henry Naden in 1871–2.

References

External links

Birmingham's First Jewish Congregations (to 1856)
o
''Jewish Communities and Records – UK''
(hosted by ''jewishgen.org''). 1809 establishments in England 1856 disestablishments in England Former synagogues in England Greek Revival synagogues Religious buildings and structures in Birmingham, West Midlands Synagogues completed in 1813 Synagogues completed in 1827 Masonic buildings {{UK-synagogue-stub

History

Architecture

See also

References

External links