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New West End Synagogue

Coordinates: 51°30′40″N 0°11′26″W / 51.51111°N 0.19056°W / 51.51111; -0.19056
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New West End Synagogue
The synagogue façade from St. Petersburgh Place
Religion
AffiliationOrthodox Judaism
RiteNusach Ashkenaz
Ecclesiastical or organizational statusSynagogue
Year consecrated1879; 145 years ago (1879)
StatusActive
Location
LocationSt. Petersburgh Place, Bayswater, City of Westminster, London, England, W2 4JT
CountryUnited Kingdom
New West End Synagogue is located in City of Westminster
New West End Synagogue
Location of the synagogue
in the City of Westminster
Geographic coordinates51°30′40″N 0°11′26″W / 51.51111°N 0.19056°W / 51.51111; -0.19056
Architecture
Architect(s)
TypeSynagogue architecture
StyleCreative Eclecticism
Completed1879
Construction cost£24,980 (1879)
Website
newwestend.org.uk
Listed Building – Grade I
Official nameNew West End Synagogue
Designated27 June 1975
Reference no.1264769
[1][2]

The New West End Synagogue is an Orthodox Jewish congregation and synagogue, located in St. Petersburgh Place, Bayswater, in the City of Westminster, London, England, in the United Kingdom. The congregation has been a member of United Synagogue since 1879.[2]

Completed in 1879, the synagogue building is one of the oldest synagogues in the United Kingdom in use and was designated as a Grade I listed building by Historic England in 1975.[3] Styled in the form of Creative Eclecticism, the architectural style of the building show symbolic references to the Islamic, Japanese, Gothic Revival, Saracenic and Classical Revival styles.[4]

History

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Designed by George Audsley of Scotland in collaboration with Nathan S. Joseph, its foundation stone was laid on 7 June 1877 by Leopold de Rothschild[3] in the presence of the Chief Rabbi, Dr. Nathan Marcus Adler, and the building was formally opened on 30 March 1879.

The synagogue's first rabbi was Simeon Singer, who translated and edited the ‘’Authorised Daily Prayer Book‘’, which is still used in Orthodox synagogues across Great Britain.[5]

Perhaps the best known rabbi of New West End Synagogue was Louis Jacobs, whose ties with the synagogue were severed in what became known as the Jacobs affair, and who went on to found the Masorti movement.[6]

In August 2007, the New West End Synagogue was declared a national monument (Grade 1 listing status).[5]

Music

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The New West End has a long heritage of choral music. The first choirmaster was David M. Davis, the compiler of The Voice of Prayer and Praise, known as the Blue Book, and the standard work on Anglo-Jewish minhag (customs). Davis spend 50 years as choirmaster, from 1879.[7]

Mosaic Voices, the choir at New West End, was founded and is conducted by Michael Etherton, who studied cello at Trinity College of Music and conducting at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance. He is also Chief Executive of UK Jewish Film.[8] Most of the Mosaic Voices choristers are either professional singers or musicians. The choir's repertoire spans 400 years from works by Salmone di Rossi to new works commissioned by current or recent choristers such as Benjamin Till and Toby Young. Mosaic Voices' CD The Blue Book was released in 2019.

Benjamin Till is the synagogue's composer-in-residence.[9]

Architecture

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The building was designed by George Ashdown Audsley and William James Audsley of Liverpool. Their output was primarily Protestant churches, but this project and that for the Old Hebrew Congregation, Prince's Road, Liverpool were two exceptions. Other activities included the publication of books on ornament and Japanese art. Both brothers eventually moved to the New York City area. George became a designer of pipe organs and published notable works on pipe organs.

The Audsleys were particularly fond of historical ornament from various sources. Their churches were High Victorian Gothic Revival, but their secular buildings and synagogues could feature elements of Egyptian, Greek, Saracenic, and Hindu architecture.[citation needed]

Particularly notable is the splendid Torah ark. Designed by Joseph, it closely resembles the ark he designed for Glasgow's Garnethill Synagogue; both arks are raised on platforms, approached by a series of circular marble steps, and project into the room in the form of a multi-domed and arched building.[10]

The building was described as “the architectural high-water mark of Anglo-Jewish architecture”.[3][4]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "NWES home page". Newwestend.org.uk. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
  2. ^ a b "New West End Synagogue". Jewish Communities and Records – UK. JewishGen and the Jewish Genealogical Society of Great Britain. 29 May 2017. Retrieved 21 April 2024.
  3. ^ a b c Historic England (27 June 1975). "New West End Synagogue (1264769)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 1 August 2020.
  4. ^ a b Fenster, Leon (17 January 2018). "Exilic Landscapes: Synagogues and Jewish Architectural Identity in 1870s Britain". Arena Journal of Architectural Research. 3 (1). doi:10.5334/ajar.47.
  5. ^ a b Uni, Assaf (8 September 2007). "U.K. grants London Synagogue same national status as Stonehenge". Haaretz. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
  6. ^ Freedland, Michael; Romain, Jonathan; Romain, Rabbi Jonathan (4 July 2006). "Rabbi Dr Louis Jacobs". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 12 February 2023.
  7. ^ "New West End Synagogue – St Petersburgh Place". Newwestend.org.uk. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
  8. ^ Rosser, Michael (21 November 2014). "UK Jewish Film names new heads". Screen Daily. Retrieved 9 December 2014.
  9. ^ David, Keren (28 December 2023). "Hymn to history: the London shul that's singing its story with the JC's help". The Jewish Chronicle. Retrieved 28 December 2023.
  10. ^ Kadish, Sharman (2006). Jewish Heritage in England: An Architectural Guide. English Heritage. pp. 195–96.

Further reading

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  • Jamilly, E. (1990). The New West End Synagogue: An Architectural Appreciation [Report]. London: Working Party on Jewish Monuments.
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