Coventry Synagogue And Rabbi'S House

Coventry Synagogue and Rabbi's House

This synagogue and rabbi's house was built in 1870 to a design by Thomas Naden of Birmingham. It is constructed of red brick with blue brick and painted stone dressings, and features a plain tile roof in a simplified Romanesque style. The building comprises a connected grouping of a two-storey rabbi's house, a synagogue, and a connecting vestibule, arranged to face onto both Barras Lane and Gloucester Street, with the rabbi's house positioned at the south west corner.

The exterior is distinguished by flush bands of blue brick at the level of sills and arch springings on both floors. The Gloucester Street frontage has a door at the left with a fanlight, paired arched lights to its right, and similarly paired windows directly above at first floor level rising into a gable, with two small lights to the left. The Barras Lane frontage shows the rabbi's house on the right with paired lights at left and a single light at right on both floors, set beneath gables. The vestibule is recessed to the left of the rabbi's house and features mosaic tiling at ground floor level from alterations made around 1964; at first floor level are paired round-arched lights beneath a gablet. The synagogue body projects further to the left, articulated into four bays divided by offset buttresses. Each bay contains a two-light window with a round relieving arch and oculus at the apex. Scalloped decoration runs along the eaves, and the roof includes four gabled dormers.

The interior of the synagogue is divided into bays by wooden trusses that are cusped with cut-out decoration, resting on stone corbels incorporating detached columns. The ark, positioned at the centre of the north eastern wall (the ritual east), is set within a recess with pilasters either side and an arched overthrow featuring a central oculus window. This window contains stained glass depicting the luhot (tablets of the law) with a star of David. The ark itself is painted and gilded timber. The bimah stands immediately in front of the ark. Pews throughout the synagogue body, flanking the bimah and in the gallery, are timber with chevron boarding to their backs. Twentieth-century stained glass windows by Hardman Studios occupy the side walls, though some have been removed following the synagogue's closure.

The Jewish community in Coventry initially assembled in a timber-framed medieval building at Great Butcher Row (demolished in 1936), the home of Isaac Cohen. They subsequently occupied rooms off Derby Lane (now demolished), then Fleet Street, and by the mid 19th century were in upper rooms at 16 Spon Street before moving to Barras Lane in 1870. At the time of the building's construction, the congregation numbered only around fifty men and boys. By 1890 membership had shrunk dramatically to just six contributing members, and the synagogue closed shortly afterwards. It reopened in 1906 despite continued numerical struggles. The Jewish population of Coventry reached approximately 240 by 1964, though numbers appear to have declined since. The building was constructed on a modest scale according to a limited budget. A mikveh (ritual bath) was originally housed in the basement of the hall but is now disused and boarded over. In 1964, post-war alterations to the gallery and reconstruction of the porch and vestibule were undertaken by G.N. Jackson.