Beth Israel Synagogue (New Haven, Connecticut)

Beth Israel Synagogue
Location: 232 Orchard St., New Haven, Connecticut
Area: less than one acre
Built: 1925
Architect: Weinstein, Jacob
Architectural style: Colonial Revival
Governing body: Private
MPS: Historic Synagogues of Connecticut MPS
NRHP Reference#: 95000578[1]
Added to NRHP: May 11, 1995

Beth Israel, also known as the Orchard Street Shul is a synagogue in New Haven, Connecticut. The synagogue building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The congregation was founded in 1913 by an orthodox congregation that was formed in 1913 by Jewish families who had prospered sufficiently to move beyond the neighborhood of first immigrant settlement around Oak and Lafayette Streets to the area of upper Oak Street (renamed Legion Avenue in 1928) and Winthrop Avenue. First meeting in leased space, in 1915 the congregation moved into a remodeled house at 147 Orchard Street. In 1923 they purchased a lot at 232 Orchard Street for $12,000 (today $154,000) and built the present Colonial revival style building in 1925. The architect was Louis Abramowitz and the builder was C. Abbadessa.[2][3]

By the late twentieth century, the membership was elderly, the Jewish population of the city had moved elsewhere, and the future of the synagogue was in doubt.[4]

Efforts to preserve the synagogue are organized by the Cultural Heritage Artists Project [5][6]

The synagogue was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1995.[1][7]

References

  1. ^ a b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2009-03-13. http://nrhp.focus.nps.gov/natreg/docs/All_Data.html. 
  2. ^ [1]
  3. ^ David F. Ransom, "One Hundred Years of Jewish Congregations in Connecticut: An Architectural Survey," Connecticut Jewish History, Vol 2: 1 (Fall 1991).
  4. ^ Andi Rierden (Sunday, February 14, 1999). "Keeping an Old Synagogue Alive". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/1999/02/14/nyregion/keeping-an-old-synagogue-alive.html?pagewanted=2. 
  5. ^ [2]
  6. ^ New Haven, CT, Dec-Jan 2009: Orchard Street Shul Arts Project, Jo Ellen Green Kaiser, ZEEK; A Jewish Journal of Thought and Culture, [3]
  7. ^ David F. Ransom (August 26, 1994). "National Register of Historic Places Multiple Property Listing, Historic Synagogues of Connecticut: Beth Israel". National Park Service. http://pdfhost.focus.nps.gov/docs/NRHP/Text/95000578.pdf.  (pages 72-85) and Accompanying four photos, exterior and interior

External links