USA: Newark's Former Oheb Shalom by William Lehman is 100 Years Old

Newark, NJ. Wells Cathedral, former Congregation Oheb Shalom. William Lehman, architect 1910-1911. Photos: Samuel D. Gruber (2006).

USA: Newark's Former Oheb Shalom by William Lehman is 100 Years Old
by Samuel D. Gruber

(ISJM) I've previously written about the centennial of the classical-style Temple Concord in Syracuse, dedicated in September 1911. Another impressive (Greco-Roman) Temple-like synagogue building celebrating its centennial this year is the former Oheb Shalom in Newark, New Jersey, designed by Jewish architect William Lehman (1874-1951) and dedicated on September 11, 2011. Since 1958, when Oheb Shalom moved to suburban South Orange, the High Street building has been home to Wells Cathedral, a Pentecostal church.

The building is a an impressive structure with a fine projecting portico of four Ionic columns, and some delicate decoration, including a Jewish Star within a wreath set into the pediment. The entablature carries an inscription in Hebrew, not English an indication that this was a Conservative synagogue, not a Reform. My guess is that this is one of the earliest full-blown classical-style Conservatives synagogues. But then again, most Conservative synagogues did not engage in big building campaigns until after World War I, so Oheb Shalom was prescient in many ways.

According to synagogue historian Mark Gordon, "Oheb Shalom had three locations on one block of Prince Street (rented quarters; 1863-64 frame synagogue; 1884 brick synagogue) before it moved to High Street in 1911. Woodrow Wilson was the keynote speaker at the High Street dedication. During Oheb Shalom’s 150th anniversary celebration in 2010, the congregation visited its extant Prince Street (1884) and High Street (1910-11) edifices in Newark and held an interfaith service with the Pentecostal Church which now owns the High Street building. Several older congregants who participated in the service were quite moved to be standing at the original reading table where they became b’nai mitzvah."

Photos of the building interior can be seen here, together with views of other former synagogues in Newark.

Lehman was apparently Jewish. David Kaufman also has several pages on the 1911 Oheb Shalom in his book on the Jewish Center movement Shul with a Pool. Lehman's New York Times obituary records that he was a trustee of B'nai Jeshurun in Newark, but Oheb Shalom is his only Jewish project that I've been able to identify so far. He appears to have been quite successful in Newark, and designed a lot of movie theaters and some important public buildings. There was/is quite a family dynasty, but one of the Lehman architects are listed in the Who's Who in American Jewry volumes of 1926, 1938-39 or 1972 The New Jersey Historical Society has 5,000 Lehman items in its archive. It appears that nothing significant has been written about Lehman, so his life and work could be a nice M.A. thesis.

Papers of Congregation Oheb Shalom that may relate to the construction of the 1910-11 building are housed at the Jewish Theological Seminary.

USA: NYC Landmarks Commission Considers Lower East Side Buildings

USA: NYC Landmarks Commission Considers Lower East Side Buildings
by Samuel D. Gruber

The New York Landmarks Preservation Commission has been taking a closer look at several individual Lower East Side buildings to determine if they meet standards for designation as New York landmarks, giving them substantial protection from demolition, and even significant exterior alteration.

According the Lower East Side Tenement Museum blogger Kate Stober, properties under review include:

- 143 Allen Street House, at Rivington Street in Manhattan, a two-story intact Federal style residence constructed c. 1831,

- The Hebrew Actors’ Union, at 31 East 7th Street between Second and Third avenues, constructed in the late 19th century (public hearing was held last June),

- The former Germania Fire Insurance Company building, at 357 Bowery, south of Cooper Square, a Second Empire style, 3 ½ story building completed in 1870,

- 97 Bowery building, near Hester Street, a five-story Italianate commercial structure with a cast-iron façade constructed c. 1869,

- Ridley & Sons Department Store, 319-321 Grand Street between Orchard and Allen streets, one of a pair of five-story, cast-iron buildings constructed c. 1886.,

- Jarmulowsky Bank, 54 Canal St. at Orchard Street, a 12-story limestone and brick Beaux Arts style building built 1911-1912

For the Jewish history of the neighborhood, the Hebrew Actors' Union building and the Jarmulowsky Bank are the most significant. The Actors Union was a most center of Yiddish film and stage life in the early 20th century,

Jarmulowsky's Bank played a famous and infamous role in the financial lives and strife of Lower East Side immigrants. Together with the Forward Building, these two LES Jewish skyscrapers represented to diverse and sometimes contradictory aspirations of Jewish immigrants.

In July 2008 I wrote about the National Trust for Historic Preservation raising the alarm about destruction in the Lower East Side…all in the name of progress (read: lucrative real estate development).

I wrote at the time that: “Even today, however, there remains a substantial Jewish population in the area, and numerous synagogues. But the Lower East Side is also the home to increasingly trendy commercial establishments and high-rent apartments. Conversion and renovation are transforming social and often physical aspects of the neighborhood. There is increasing demolition of old buildings in order to build bigger newer ones, and this more than any single factor puts the area at risk. The Lower East Side has always been an area of transition. Preservationists cannot stop change, and most do not want to. But they hope to slow down development and to force greater review and consideration of new projects in the area, and more closely watch the impact of single building projects on the neighborhood as a whole.”

USA: Grants Will Fund Rescue of Louis Kahn's Trenton Bath House

USA: Grants Will Fund Rescue of Louis Kahn's Trenton Bath House
by Samuel D. Gruber

(ISJM) After several years of uncertainty, Louis Kahn's Trenton Bath House will get a new lease on life, when restoration begins after Labor Day.

The so-called Trenton Bath House (pictures) designed by Kahn and built in 1955 is one those iconic monuments stuck with the wrong name (one thinks of the oxymoron "Santa Maria la Blanca Synagogue" in Toledo as an example). Kahn's building is not in Trenton; nor is it a Bath House - and certainly not a Bath House in the traditional Jewish sense. It is really the entry and changing rooms of a community swimming pool, located at 999 Lower Ferry Road, in Ewing, New Jersey, commissioned by the Trenton Jewish Community Center [TJCC] designed as just a small part of what was intended to be a much larger planned (but not built) Jewish Community Center of the Delaware Valley. The small, structurally simple building consists of four square concrete block rooms, surrounding an open atrium forming a cruciform plan

Click here to read more about the history and design of the building [n.b. this linked site, while it appears accurate, reprints material from various sources without attribution].

Despite the pivotal role this design played in the development in Kahn's subsequent work, and the great influence it continues to exert in architectural design (from Robert Venturi to Mario Botta) the concrete block building was for long treated locally as a mere utilitarian structure, and was poorly maintained. Still, the building remained essentially intact. Kahn spoke of the Bath House as a turning point in his design philosophy, "From this came a generative force which is recognizable in every building which I have done since." I think it fair to say that this building relates to Kahn’s later work in the way Bramante’s Tempietto relates to that architect's work at Saint Peter’s. The Bath House is both a functioning everyday building and a working model for bigger things. And yet, it is in part because of its very intimate scale that it is well loved.

When the Jewish Community Center, which owned the building, announced in 2005 plans to move from Ewing to a large site in West Windsor, NJ, there was widespread concern among Kahn building aficionados that the Bath House might not survive a sale to a new owner, despite a National Register designation and a local preservation ordinance listing it as a protected site. The Friends of the Trenton Bath House was formed to monitor the building’s condition and to promote its preservation; Preservation New Jersey listed the Bath House as an endangered site; and in 2006, concerns eased when title was transferred from the Jewish Community Center to Ewing Township and Mercer County. Now, three years later, funds have been secured to carry out the long-awaited restoration of the structure and the surviving Kahn-designed buildings of the adjacent day camp.

Susan Solomon, whose book Louis I. Kahn's Trenton Jewish Community Center was published by Princeton Architectural Press in 2000, has provided ISJM and this blog with an update on the long-awaited restoration of the Louis Kahn structures:

Maris Wieczorek, Senior Planner of Mercer County (NJ) reports that renovation of the Trenton Bath House (Louis I. Kahn, 1955) and the adjoining Day Camp ( Kahn, 1957) will begin after Labor Day. Funding, which comes from a $750,000 grant from the New Jersey Historic Trust (from the Garden State Historic Preservation Trust Fund), will be matched (1:1) by Mercer County which bought the property in 2007. The county made the original purchase by innovative use of open space monies. Mercer County now leases the site to Ewing Township which operates the Bath House (changing rooms) and swimming pool as part of its senior and community center.

The current plans include demolition of the snack bar (an eyesore that was attached to the Bath House after Kahn had left the project); erection of a new snack facility close to the place where Kahn designated one in a 1957 plan; improved picnic area; symbolic recreation of the pebble garden in the atrium; new doors and fencing; ADA accessibility. The restoration of the Bath House will include new shingles (matched to old photographs) on the roofs; stabilizing of all concrete block and slab flooring; new drainage in the changing areas; recreation of the benches that Kahn had used. There will also be new shower stalls and toilets. The former basket room [where swimmers checked their street clothes] will be renovated to accommodate an entry desk and support services.

Changes at the Day Camp include demolition of two pavilions that are not repairable. They will be recreated alongside the two remaining pavilions.

Farewell, Mills, and Gatsch is the architectural firm doing all of the restoration and new construction. Heritage Landscapes is in charge of the landscape design.

USA: Preservation New Jersey Offers Workshop for Advocates for Historic Places

(ISJM) Preservation New Jersey offers a workshop for advocates for endangered historic places: Tips to Persist, Persevere and Preserve, on Sat. June 13 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. The workshop meets at the historic 1st Presbyterian Church of Trenton, 120 E. State St. The Workshop includes sessions and speakers from a variety of preservation-related arenas, sharing tips and strategies for successful preservation advocacy and action.

Speakers:
• Using non-traditional media – Michael Willman, WMSH Marketing Communications

• Technical Assistance – Richard Southwick, FAIA; Beyer Blinder Belle Architects

• Finding funding: a case study – Numa Sisselin, CEO; Count Basie Theatre, Red Bank

• Grassroots Advocacy – Michael Shakarjian; the John C. Evans Project, Milltown

$5 registration fee at the door | Light refreshments served.

Contact PNJ at 609.392.6409 for more information

In recent years there have been many historic preservation and adaptive reuse projects for synagogues, former synagogues and other Jewish sites in New Jersey. these range from the Star of Israel Synagogue in Hoboken to the wooden synagogues of South Jersey to Louis Kahn's "Bath House" near Trenton.

USA: Hoboken (New Jersey) Star of Israel Synagogue Begins Restoration

USA: Hoboken (New Jersey) Star of Israel Synagogue Begins Restoration
by Samuel D. Gruber

(ISJM) The United Synagogue of Hoboken used the High Holy Days to begin the restoration of its synagogue, built in 1915, and known as the Star of Israel. A program of renewal for the congregation began during its centennial in 2005 and since then, the synagogue has been placed on the New Jersey and the National Registers of Historic Places and the synagogue recently received a $280,000 matching grant from the New Jersey Historic Trust to aid in the restoration.

USH has also received a grant from the Legacy Heritage Fund for a program to recreate Jewish neighborhood vitality in Hoboken. State and local political officials and leaders of the Jewish community attended the Restoration Kickoff Celebration at the historic sanctuary.

Though now serving a Conservative congregation, the synagogue is one of a fairly small group of intact and in use (originally) Orthodox synagogues of a type that once filled American cities. The design essentially follows the Orthodox East European model favored by first and second generation East European Jewish immigrants. Outside, the flat facade still maintains vestigial corner towers, each surmounted by an onion dome. Inside, a women's balcony fills three sides of the sanctuary, which culminates at the Ark wall with a tall two-story Aron-ha-Kodesh that mixes classical and East European motifs. A large carved eagle is set in the middle of the Ark, which is surmounted by seated lions flanking a Decalogue.

According to the congregation, the restoration will take place in phases in order minimize disruption of synagogue life, and to stay within our budget.

Phase one, upgrading infrastructure, includes: installing new wiring throughout the building; examining the strength of the roof structure and adding a new roof; placing steel beams on the roof to support air conditioning units; replacing masonry on the parapets; and refurbishing the onion domes. Much of the roof work is eligible for fifty percent reimbursement from the New Jersey Historic Trust grant. The estimated timing is as follows:

Phase two (still in planning stage, dependent on available funding): continue work on the roof and install the air conditioning; or continue work in the sanctuary and install the replacement period light fixtures.

For more information and photos see:

United Synagogue of Hoboken added to National Register of Historic Places by Carly Baldwin

The following information has been adapted from congregation’s website:

The Star of Israel community was formed by recent immigrants from Eastern Europe, on October 10, 1905, just after Yom Kippur. After ten years of fund raising and planning, the synagogue was dedicated on May 16, 1915. The Star of Israel remain shuttered, during an extended period following World War II, when the local piers became obsolete, factories closed, and young families migrated to the suburbs. Except for the High Holy Days, when services would be held at the Star of Israel, the diminished community met at another Hoboken location.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Hoboken was a major immigration port, and the Port of Embarkation for the Allied Forces in World War 1. Many local commercial and retail businesses were owned by Jewish residents of Hoboken, who probably numbered over 3,000 men, women and children. Jewish life in Hoboken was at its peak just after World War I, when there were six synagogues.

The United Synagogue of Hoboken was organized in 1947 through the union of the Hoboken Jewish Center -- founded in the 1920's as a Conservative congregation -- and the Congregation Star of Israel -- organized in 1910 as an Orthodox congregation.

The Hoboken Jewish Center was established by former members of the Star of Israel seeking a more liberal environment in the then-emerging Conservative movement. They purchased, occupied, and renovated a circa-1890 brown stone residence at 830 Hudson Street, adding a 120-seat sanctuary, gymnasium, and offices; and upstairs residences, occupied by the rabbi and the rabbi's family, a Learning Center teacher, and, at times, a caretaker.

Revitalization began slowly, during the 1970s, when Jews were among the new generation of residents arriving in Hudson County. In 1989, the Star of Israel was reopened to accommodate a small but growing congregation and a learning center. In 1997, the community sold its other Hoboken property and used the proceeds to help fund construction of a building next to the Star of Israel, consolidating the community at the location where it started. The community dedicated the new building, in 2002, as a venue for administration and education. Growth has exceeded expectations.

Further information about the restoration and other aspects of United Synagogue of Hoboken is available at www.hobokensynagogue.org.