West London Jewish Synagogue

Messrs. Davis and Emanuel, of Finsbury-circus

1872

Source: Illustrated London News

“The synagogue or meeting-house lately built for the Reformed Jewish congregation, formerly assembling in Margaret-street, Cavendish-square, of which the Rev. Professor Marks is the principal minister, stands in Upper Berkeley-street, close to the corner of Edgware-road. The architects were Messrs. Davis and Emanuel, of Finsbury-circus. The building is of domed structure and Byzantine in character, with a square plan, measuring 70 ft. each way.” [Continued below]

You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the Hathi Trust Digital Library and The University of Michigan Library and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.

The interior has a wide gallery along three sides. The ceiling consists of a large central dome, and four small domes in the angles, with four great arches, covering the side spaces. This ceiling is upheld by four piers of clustered columns of Devonshire marble, with carved capitals. At the east end of the building is a domed semicircular recess or apse, in which are placed the organ and choir. In the centre of this apse is placed the ark or shrine, which is the receptacle for the scrolls of parchment containing the words of the Mosaic Law. It is constructed entirely of inlaid marble. A peculiar feature of this building is the placing of the choir at the east end, facing the congregation, but so that the choir are concealed from view by a screen of marble, containing openwork grilles of gilded metal. This arrangement reminds one of the new Greek church at Paris. The stone and marble reading-desk also, which occupies the centre of the floor, resembles the “ambon” in the older Greek churches. The organ is placed in the apse at the east end, and behind the ark or shrine. A gangway is reserved all along the side walls of the building, so that persons coming in after service has begun may reach their seats without disturbing the congregation. All the doors through which the public have to pass swing outwards as well as inwards, and are arranged for the egress of a crowd on a judicious principle of distribution. The occupants of the ground floor, 500 in number, pass out through two 5 ft. wide doorways into a corridor 10 ft. wide, while similar means of egress are given to the 500 occupants of the galleries. Where the occupants of the galleries and ground floor meet, the hall, or atrium, is 20 ft. wide, and the opening of the great arch and gates in Upper Berkeley-street is of the same width. This arrangement will effectually prevent a “block” in the outgoing crowd. It is the custom in synagogues to separate the men of the congregation from the women, and to place the latter in the gallery. It is therefore desirable bo to arrange the building as to give equal gallery accommodation to that on the frronnd floor: and in order to give a place of meeting for the male and female members of each family after the service, a spacious hall, or atrium, becomes a feature of the plan. The decoration also is somewhat peculiar. The highest class of decorative art, subject-painting or figure-sculpture, is forbidden to the Jews, so far as their religious buildings are concerned. Here the decoration of the flat surfaces depends entirely on the varied combinations of simple geometrical forms, picked out with colour, and on the leaves and flowers introduced in the carving. The lily, the pomegranate, olive, fig, and palm are the types which are conventionalised. The upper part of the entrance building, in Upper Berkeley-street, is arranged to form a committee-room and a residenoe for the beadle. Many articles have been presented to the synagogue by wealthy members of the congregation. The ark itself is the gift of the ladies of the Goldsmid family; the pulpit and marble pavement were presented by Mr. D. C. Stiebel; and the reading-desk by the Henriques family, in memory of the late Mr. D. Q. Henriques, who, shortly before his death presented the two stained-glass windows for the east-end wall. The commandment tablets, on each side of the apse arch, are executed in gold mosaic by Salviati and Go., and are the gift of Mr. Dresden; the perpetual lamp, which hangs before the ark, was given by Mr. Jaoob Mocatta; and the entrance-gates are the gift of Mr. Simon Waley. [79]

Bibliography

“West London Jewish Synagogue.” Illustrated London News 60 (27 January 1872): 79-80. Hathi Trust Digital Library version of a copy in the University of Michigan Library. Web. 11 December 2015.

Last modified 12 December 2015