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Bryan, Texas. Temple Freda. Photo: Brazos Heritage Society. |
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Bryan, Texas. Temple Freda. Interior in 1950s. Photo courtesy of Brazos Heritage Society. |
Getting Ready for Its Close-Up: Former Temple Freda in Bryan,
Texas, to be Restored
By Samuel D. Gruber
When the cornerstone of Temple Freda in Bryan, Texas was laid in 1913,
the local newspaper wrote:
“the synagogue is a neat little brick
structure, modern in design, and when completed will be a monument to the pluck,
energy and enterprise of those Jewish citizens who now reside in Bryan, and who
are responsible and have the credit for its erection.” (The Eagle, Feb 17,
1913).
The once “neat” but now
deteriorated building has not been used for Jewish worship for more than half
century, but now it getting a second lease on life.
In 2020, the
restoration of Temple Freda in Bryan, Texas and its re-purposing as a public
community space continues to move forward as part of multi-year effort by local
preservationists and the City of Bryan. In 2017 the nascent restoration project
received a $40,000 matching grant from
the Texas Historical Commission, which enabled a start to the project. With additional
support from a city Downtown improvement grant, the building was stabilized. Faculty
and students from the Center for Heritage Conservation at the College of Architecture of nearby Texas A
&M documented the preservation needs of the structure and prepared a full preservation
plan and detailed digital model illustrating the building’s deterioration
in 2018. The building has previously been documented by Texas A&M architecture
students who helped list the structure on the National Register of Historic
Places in 1983 and the Texas A & M team also created measured
drawings for the Historic American Building Survey (HABS).
The city of Bryan
now owns and cares for the Temple Freda property, but the plan is for an
existing or new nonprofit organization to take on ownership and oversee the
temple’s long-term management.
The small but
nimble Brazos Heritage Society, a volunteer organization education and advocacy
organization, has partnered with the city to raise awareness and help raise
funds, and efforts are underway to fund Phase II.
On October 27, the Brazos Heritage Society plans to participate in
Brazos Valley Gives, a community-wide fundraising campaign for local
non-profits. The goal is to raise at least $150,000 for the Temple Freda
project.
To donate to the project go to https://www.brazosheritage.org/temple-freda-restoration-phase-i-b or you can participate in the Brazos Valley Gives campaign at https://www.brazosvalleygives.org/ on October 27. All donations received during Brazos Valley Gives are earmarked for Temple Freda.
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Bryan, Texas. Temple Freda. Exterior elevation by Texas A & M courtesy HABS. |
Back in a blogpost
of 2009, I mentioned Temple Freda Reform Congregation of Bryant, Texas, as
a rare Jewish synagogue named after a woman. The Temple was named at its
dedication for Mrs. Ethel Freda Kaczer, the recently deceased wife of the
congregation's president.
I'm still interested in the building – now for several other
reasons. For the last few years as part of a project with the College of
Charleston, I’ve been researching synagogues and Jewish architects in the
South. The modest but attractive Temple Freda building of 1912-13 is important as
one of the few surviving Classical-style synagogues in Texas from that period between
1900 and 1930 when the Classical impulse was so widespread in the South. Temple Freda is a modest – but fine – example.
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Bryan, Texas. Temple Freda. Photo: Larry D. Moore 2012 (Wikipedia).
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The International Survey of Jewish
Monuments has also been busy inventorying American synagogue stained glass. Typical
of period and style, Temple Freda has a fine set of stained-glass windows, too.
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Bryan, Texas. Temple Freda. Stained-glass window. Photo: Brazos Heritage Society. |
Importantly, I recently (re)learned that the building is almost
certainly an early design by the Austrian-born Jewish architect Joseph
Finger, who arrived in Houston in 1908 and was soon junior partner in the firm of Green & Finger (with Lewis Sterling
Green), which, according to The Tradesman received the contract Temple
in 1912.
“Bryan TX. Temple Freda congregation has let the contract
to Walter Cook of Houston for the erection of a brick synagogue. The plans for
the building were prepared by Green and Finger, architects of Houston." (The Tradesman,
October 24, 1912).
As the Jewish junior partner Finger was probably in charge.
I have not yet found out much about architect Lewis Green. It is possible that
he was Jewish, too, and thus gave the newly arrived Austrian immigrant his first
professional position. Finger soon moved on to form his own firm which over
many decades had great success.
He would go on to be a leading architect in interwar Houston, and nationally
one of the most successful Jewish architects of the first half of the 20th century. In synagogue architecture, he
is best known for his 1926 Temple Beth Israel in Houston (now Heinen
Theater of Houston Community College). This structure, built for Finger’s own
congregation, was designed in a robust classical style. In 1935, Finger also
designed the Temple of Rest Mausoleum for Beth Israel (where he himself is
interred) in an Art Deco style. It is a fascinating to add Temple Freda to this
progression through stages of “Jewish” classicism as a study of Finger’s
development, but also as lens on American Jewish tastes and aspirations of the
time.
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Houston, Texas. Temple Israel. Joseph Finger, architect. Pencil Points, February 1933 |
Temple Freda is a fine example of a small classical style Reform
Temple in the American South. As I have previously, the classical style became
a new architectural “brand” for the Reform Movement after around 1900. More
ornate versions built before World War I can be found across the south, but the
style persisted and in 1917 we find, for example, the near-contemporary B’nai
Israel synagogue in Spartanburg, South
Carolina, similar to Temple Freda in many ways.
In Texas, there were several examples of Classical-style synagogues built
in this period. Most, such as Houston’s Temple Beth Israel (1908), have been
demolished and replaced by newer buildings. The former B’nai Zion in El Paso, built
in 1912 in a style that mixed Greek and Gothic, has been used as church since
1927 and is well maintained.
History
Jews probably settled in Bryan in the 1860's. As in most
contemporary communities, they met in member’s homes for worship. In 1912, land
was sold by local businessman J.W. English, a member of St. Andrew’s Episcopal
Church, for the token sum of $10 to the Jewish community with the stipulation
that the land be used exclusively for “religious or benevolent purposes.”
The cornerstone-laying ceremony followed the masonic ritual which
was standard practice in the South and much of the country. Construction moved
quickly, and the dedication took place on May 20, 1913 with an assembly of rabbis
and Texas dignitaries. The Eagle wrote that the Temple:
“has been completed, standing forth in its beauty and
symmetry, and was on last night dedicated, in a beautiful, sacred and solemn
service, to the worship of the true and living God. The house was filled to
overflowing by the members of the congregation, their guests from other cities,
and their friends in Bryan, either to witness or take part in the dedication
service, typifying in their coming together the spirit of brotherly love and
Christian fellowship existing in Brian between the different denominations,
nationalities and religious beliefs.”
Rabbi Henry Barnstein of Temple Beth El in Houston and Rabbi Henry
Cohen of Congregation B'nai Israel in Galveston
presided. The newspaper gave a full account and summarized and quoted much of
Rabbi Cohen’s address.
Read more
about the Jewish history of Bryan here.
Much of the Temple’s construction material was also donated by
local citizens. The modest rectangular building was completed within a year.
Its most distinctive feature is the Greek aedicula-type entrance way, with a
pressed metal entablature and pediment surmounting two wooden Corinthian
columns with plaster capitals. A plaque with the name “Temple Freda” is
inserted in the wall beneath the portico, above the double entrance doors. The Parker Street facade has nicely detailed
tan brick walls beneath a pressed metal classical entablature. The side and
rear walls are red brick.
The brick walls, metal decorative elements, and wooden columns are
all in need of repair.
Inside the arrangement was austere – a small vestibule flanked by
restrooms opens to a simple rectangular hall, where the floor gently slopes to
the bimah at the far end opposite the entrance. But the entire space was
embellished with a series of simple but elegant stained-glass windows which
prided a cool and calming light for the space. Many of these are memorial
windows donated by congregants. There is a pressed metal ceiling, and a small
meeting room is located at the back. Few
flanked a central aisle.
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Bryan, Texas. Temple Freda. Exterior elevation by Texas A & M courtesy HABS. |
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Despite the joyous dedication in 1913, the congregation struggled
to survive, especially after the onset of the Great Depression in the 1930s. Despite
a brief boom during World War II, decline continued until the move to College
Station. As in many small towns, there was never a full-time rabbi.
That congregation has moved on. The building stopped serving as a regular
Jewish house of worship back in the 1950s. Many of the congregants, and
certainly almost all newly arriving Jews in the area, were affiliated with
Texas A & M University; they began to attend a new Hillel synagogue on
campus at nearby College Station. In 1968 Congregation Beth Shalom, was
formed to serve the Jewish community of the Brazos Valley. Beth Shalom, which since 1990 is housed in a modest and attractive mid-century brick former church building, includes many Temple Freda members and
maintains Temple Freda's Cemetery.
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Bryan, Texas. Temple Beth Shalom, 101 North Coulter Drive. Photo: Google Streetscapes. |
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Bryan, Texas. Temple Beth Shalom, 101 North Coulter Drive.
Photo: Courtesy
of Larry Dangott and Congregation Beth Shalom via Julian Preisler.
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After regular Jewish use of Temple Freda ended, it was maintained for the congregation
by a Texas A & M physicist William
Bassichis, and for many decades served as an available public space often
used by small
congregations of various faiths. But without regular maintenance and some major
repairs, the structure decayed.
In 2013, amidst a boom in Downtown redevelopment, the citizens’ group “Friends of
Temple Freda” was formed to save the building. Bassichis ceded management to
the City of Bryan during the restoration process which after a period of organization, began in
earnest in 2017.
For now, the stained-glass windows (some of which had already been
damaged due to neglect or vandalism) and original furnishings have been removed
for safe keeping while the building is stabilized and restoration work proceeds
to repair the roof, reinforce the brick walls, and secure the overall exterior
water handling envelop. Mechanical systems will also be upgraded as
part of the restoration.
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Bryan, Texas. Temple Freda. Photo: Brazos Heritage Society. |
When restored,
the building follow the path of many other rescued religious and public
buildings around the country and serve as a venue for weddings, receptions,
educational events, concerts, and more. In this, they will follow the example of "Save the Temple Committee" in Corsicana, which saved the synagogue there for community use back in 1987.
Though no one could have predicted it at the time, that wonderful Moorish style
building, which was re-furbished as secular space, now sometimes serves
again as a place of Jewish worship, too.
Read more here: https://www.brazosheritage.org/temple-freda-history