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Thread: Princes Road Synagogue

  1. #1
    Creator & Administrator Kev's Avatar
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    Default Princes Road Synagogue

    LIVERPOOL'S Jewish architectural heritage is more at risk now than ever, a book has revealed.

    Toxteth's Grade II* listed Princes Road Synagogue features in Jewish Heritage In England, published yesterday.

    The guide was based on a national survey by English Heritage to celebrate 350 years of Jewish architecture in England.

    The book, published by EH, raises concerns over the future of buildings like the Princes Road synagogue, which it says are struggling to survive because of dwindling congregation numbers. Built in 1874, the synagogue is generally considered to be one of the finest examples of Jewish architecture in Europe.

    It has been heralded a "jewel in the crown" of Merseyside's architectural offerings, and drawn tourists from across the world.

    The spectacular synagogue is renowned for its fine painted and gilded interior. The architects went down in history for creating a unusual new type of building, with an "eclectic mixture of the best of the eastern and western schools of art".

    Scottish Presbyterian brothers William and George Audsley later went on to pioneer skyscraper construction in America.

    Despite it's respected status, a dwindling congregation means the synagogue has struggled to raise funds to carry out basic maintenance work.

    Charles Mozley became the first Jewish mayor for the city in 1863 and at the end of the 1950s there were around 7,000 Jewish people living in Liverpool.Today, that figure has dropped to an estimated 3,000.

    In 2005, funds of £80,000 were set aside to repair the hand-painted roof and to get rid of dry rot. The campaign to restore the Welsh slate roof of the synagogue began in 2001. It was hoped an English Heritage grant of nearly £170,000 would fund full repairs.

    But Cecil Moss, a former warden of the synagogue said it was still suffering from dry rot.

    "The Princes Road synagogue is one of the hidden secrets of Liverpool," he said. "It is a very special building for the city and the people who built it really put their all into it.

    "Liverpool gave the Jewish people a warm welcome and a home when they emigrated here and the synagogue was a way of giving something back to the city.

    "But the Jewish community in Liverpool, like elsewhere, has been shrinking and it has been harder and harder to match funds to stop the dry rot which risks ruining the building."While researchers were compiling the book several national Jewish landmarks were demolished.



    Henry Owen-John, English Heritage Director for the North West, said: "English Heritage recognises that in the North West the Jewish community has contributed some remarkable buildings which are an integral part of the heritage of the region; such as the Old Hebrew Congregation in Liverpool and Higher Crumpsall synagogue in Manchester.

    The book's author and Director of Jewish Heritage, Dr Sharman Kadish, said: "These buildings include some of the finest synagogues in Europe, especially precious because they escaped the ravages of the Second World War."

    kate.mansey@liverpool.com
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    Senior Member ChrisGeorge's Avatar
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    Hi Kev

    Neighborhoods do change in terms of ethnic makeup and that is one of the problems with the Princes Road synagogue, architectural jewel though it is. A similar situation pertains to the East End of London, which used to be heavily Jewish but now has a large Moslem community. The one-time Spitalfields Great Synagogue in Fournier Street is now the Jame-e-masjid mosque. Earlier, before the building became a synagogue, it had been a Calvinist church serving the needs of the French Huguenot weavers in Spitalfields.

    Incidentally, a notable Liverpool Jew was Samuel Montagu (1832–1911), who actually started out life as Montagu Samuel, and was a member of the same family as the Liverpool jewelers, Samuels. He became a leading British banker and MP for Whitechapel in the East End. He was awarded the title of first Lord Swaythling in 1907. I will put up a biography for him soon.

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    MissInformed
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    did anyone see the article on the synagogue in the Daily Post on Friday?
    Quite scary that they haven't got enough funds to even fix the dry rot in there.

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    Senior Member john's Avatar
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    There was a photo of a synagogue on one of the threads not too long ago unsure if its the same building.
    I saw this story on TV amazing building part of Liverpools jewish heritage which needs to be saved.

    I saw CGs story on the Spitalfields Great Synagogue in Fournier Street on the BBC programme called Spitalfields, all about the history of the area around Brick Lane, very interesting history how the area and buildings change with the introduction of new communities.
    " If you know your history, then you would know where you coming from".


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    Creator & Administrator Kev's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by john View Post
    There was a photo of a synagogue on one of the threads not too long ago unsure if its the same building.
    Here it is: Click
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    Senior Member john's Avatar
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    It was the same one, amazing place and great photo by Paul
    Thanks Kev
    " If you know your history, then you would know where you coming from".


    "I could have been a footballer - but I had a paper round"..Yosser Hughes

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    Senior Member ChrisGeorge's Avatar
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    The Princes Road Synagogue is also discussed in the August/September issue of Haddasah Magazine in an article in the series "The Jewish Traveler" entitled "Liverpool" by Lois Gilman. The writer discusses Liverpool's cultural highlights and its Jewish connections as the city looks to 2008, when it will be the European Union’s Capital of Culture.

    The article provides a history of Liverpool's Jewish community and discusses the port's role as a transit point for Jews from Eastern Europe travelling on to America. Included are such not well known facts, for example, that "One of the most famous Jews to pass through Liverpool was entertainer Al Jolson, born Asa Yoelson in Lithuania; along with his mother, brother and two sisters, he boarded the S.S. Umbria in 1894 as an 8-year-old to join his father, who had made the journey four years earlier."

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