USA: Hurricane Beryl Blasts Historic Baytown, Texas Synagogue

Baytown, Texas. K'nesset Israel, after Hurrican Beryl. Photo: Houston Jewish Voice.

Baytown, Texas. K'nesset Israel, Photo: Samuel Gruber 2023

Hurricane Beryl Blasts Historic Baytown, Texas Synagogue

by Samuel D. Gruber

Hurricane Beryl slammed into East Texas on July 8, hitting the Houston area hard. I am alarmed to see a picture of the historic Knesset Israel synagogue in Baytown, Texas stripped of most of its brick facade.  I wrote about this synagogue briefly in 2011 after it suffered limited damage in the destructive Hurricane Ike of 2008, and was then restored. The building has intrigued me for a long time. It is early work by noted Houston architect Lenard Gabert in 1930, best known to me for his remarkable design for Temple Emanu-El in Houston (1949) which is one the earliest fully-developed and expressive modern synagogues in America, and a building that has too long been ignored by architectural historians. Gabert's work evolved over the decades, and his post-World War II work was cutting edge.

We'll know more about the condition of the synagogue and what will be required to repair it in the coming days. But the congregation tells me that "if people wish to donate they may do so through Zelle. Our account is Congregation KNesseth Israel and the associated email address is ckibaytown@gmail.com."

I spent two days in Baytown last October, visiting my friends Joan and Reuben Linares. Joan is the president of the congregation, and president of the Texas Jewish Historical Society. The brick building has been listed as a Texas Historical Landmark since 1992 and Joan was instrumental in having K'nesset Israel listed on the National Register of Historic Places last December, with exhaustive research on its history and the history of Baytown's Jewish community by David Moore. David's exemplary NR nomination can be read in full here: https://atlas.thc.state.tx.us/NR/pdfs/100009949/100009949.pdf.  

I got to know the building close-up and personal which is a good thing now, given the recent damage. As far as I know the interior is still intact, though it is possible that there is water damage. Engineers are presently examining the structural integrity of the building after the storm. I include some of my my photos from last year. 

Baytown, Texas. K'nesset Israel, Photo: Samuel Gruber 2023.

The synagogue is a mostly unadorned box which now, due to the hurricane damage seems revealed to be a mostly wood structure clad in yellow brick.  While to some it may appear - and I previously made this connection due to the profile of its roof - to be a poor man's version of elaborate synagogues on the coasts such as B'nai Jeshurun in New York and the Breed Street Shul in Los Angeles, it really is something different - at least on the outside.  It is certainly a low-cost building, but stylistically and functionally it is an efficient modern box.  An additional social hall was added later. The synagogue owes its stripped-down form to developments in Art Deco and Are Moderne style architecture, but also to industrial design. Inside, Gabert choose a more traditional and sedate Classical/Renaissanc style. This was probably more to the taste of the congregation. 

Just as Louis Kahn got his start designing simple modern boxes for Orthodox congregations in Philadelphia in the 1930s, I think we have to add Baytown to the broad narrative of American modern synagogue design. Certainly Baytown is an important step in Gabert's development. It is noteworthy that it was a Jewish architect willing to pursue simplicity. Gabert did not need to wait for the arrival of European refugee architects like Eric Mendelsohn, Frtiz Nathan, Norbert Troller, David Moed, et al to get to this point.

From Tri-Cities Tribune from July 29, 1933. Image included in the National Register nomination, 2023.

An illustrated local newspaper article from the  Tri-Cities Tribune from July 29, 1933 shows how radically different the "Jewish church" is from the buildings of neighboring congregations. K'nesset Israel was dedicated in 1930, just at the beginning of the Great Depression. We can only imagine what forms of modern synagogue architecture might have developed in America if most synagogue building the country had not come to almost complete halt at this time.

Baytown, Texas. K'nesset Israel. Facade Detail. Photo: Samuel Gruber 2023.

Baytown, Texas. K'nesset Israel. Facade Detail, Photo: Samuel Gruber 2023

The interior of the synagogue is simple and austere, with the bimah and ark given Renaissance/Colonial detailing, and simple stained glass designs for the large windows.  It would have looked more decorated before the dark woodwork was painted white - perhaps in a mistaken attempt to modernize the sanctuary's look. The high vaulted ceiling creates an airy space that is small enough for congregational intimacy but big enough to create a sense of grandeur, too.

Baytown, Texas. K'nesset Israel. Sanctuary, Photo: Samuel Gruber 2023.

Baytown, Texas. K'nesset Israel. Interior before recent painting. Photo: Louis Davidson.

Baytown, Texas. K'nesset Israel. Bimah and ark, Photo: Samuel Gruber 2023.

Baytown, Texas. K'nesset Israel. Sanctuary, Photo: Samuel Gruber 2023.

Baytown, Texas. K'nesset Israel. Sanctuary, Photo: Samuel Gruber 2023.

Baytown, Texas. K'nesset Israel. Sanctuary, Photo: Samuel Gruber 2023.

Baytown, Texas. K'nesset Israel. Sanctuary, Photo: Samuel Gruber 2023.

Baytown, Texas. K'nesset Israel. Sanctuary, Photo: Samuel Gruber 2023.

Baytown, Texas. K'nesset Israel. Sanctuary, Phoo: Samuel Gruber 2023.

 

Baytown, Texas. K'nesset Israel. Sanctuary, Photo: Samuel Gruber 2023.

Baytown, Texas. K'nesset Israel. Stained glass window detail. Photo: Samuel Gruber 2023.

My great uncle Moses Sumner was a founder of the synagogue in 1930,  and a supporter until his death in 1966. He and his brother Joe Susnitsky had a clothing store in Goose Creek (as that part of Baytown was then known) and my mother worked there as a store clerk for a summer job in the 1930s, soon after the synagogue was built (she later got her wedding suit there in 1946). That store has been torn down to make an urban park, but the former Goose Creek's main retail drag still exists - a slowly reviving strip that recalls old Jewish merchants, a bit of "the Last Picture Show, and 21st century art and tourism aspirations.

Baytown, Texas. K'nesset Israel. Yahrzeit (memorial) plaques for my great-uncles Mose Sumner and Joe Susnitsky. Photo: Samuel Gruber 2023.

Baytown, Texas. K'nesset Israel. Here is my uncle Mose Sumner helping to burn the mortgage. He is to the left of the menorah.