Golders Green Synagogue

Golders Green Synagogue

A synagogue begun in 1921 by the Jewish architect Digby Lewis Soloman (died 1962) and completed in 1925 by Ernest Martin Joseph (1877-1960), with extensions added in 1927 also by Joseph. The building is constructed in red brick with rubbed red brick quoins and window surrounds, stone dressings, and a Portland stone portico. It has shallow hipped roofs with a central circular roof lantern. The windows are timber sashes with some metal-framed sashes. The exterior follows a traditional Neo-Georgian style, while the interior displays lavish Italianate decoration.

Exterior

The northern elevation facing Dunstan Road comprises three distinct sections. On the left (east) rises a tall section defined by an open stone pediment on shallow pilasters, with a flat stone-capped parapet behind and a tripartite arrangement of windows. The east end of this section is largely blank, with gently curved walls forming a projecting end that houses the Ark. The windows have plain slightly recessed surrounds with simple stone cills on brackets, and a continuous stone balustraded parapet runs across. The central section has three wide bays beneath a shallow pyramidal hipped roof. At ground floor are segmental-headed windows, one bearing a stone foundation plaque commemorating the 1927 extension. Above these are round-headed, small-pane windows at first floor, all with red brick surrounds and keyblocks, topped by a continuous stone cornice. The right bay is set back and features the prominent stone portico, which has a rectangular-plan column with entasis paired with a circular column on each side, with engaged columns behind. A balustraded stone parapet crowns the cornice. The shallow end bay to the right (west) is lower, with blind windows of similar form. The south side at the east end echoes the north elevation with a similar open pediment and tripartite arrangement, though rendered entirely in brick and plainer in detail. The far west end contains various windows and doors all beneath similar red rubbed brick arches with keyblocks. A more utilitarian flat-roofed office extension to the south-west has later twentieth-century windows and is of lesser architectural interest.

Interior

The interior of the main hall is the most impressive aspect of the building, notable for its scale, spatial arrangement, and quality of fittings. The space is defined by a continuous gallery running on three sides, with the hall wider at the east end. The gallery is supported by paired Doric order columns at ground floor and Ionic order columns at first floor. The western range employs steel supports, whilst the 1927 eastwards extension uses a concrete cantilever system. The walls are lined with oak panelling. The original oak bench seating, accommodating around 1000 people, survives largely intact throughout the main hall. A continuous dentilled cornice and triglyph frieze runs along the front of the gallery. The ceiling is barrel-vaulted with dentil plasterwork, and semi-circular clerestory windows punctuate the spaces between each bay on the north and south sides. The main hall is lit by a central lantern, though the plasterwork surrounding it was damaged and fell in 2006. An extensive collection of colourful stained glass windows, predominantly from the late 1920s, features memorials to former synagogue members and biblical scenes. One window on the north wall illustrates the unbuilt 1919 design for Patrick Geddes' Mount Scopus campus, which opened in 1925.

The Ark at the east end is the architectural and spiritual focal point of the building. It comprises a polished oak temple front featuring six pilasters with Corinthian capitals and a continuous dentilled cornice, with Hebrew lettering in the frieze and upper level below the cornice bearing the text of Isaiah 2:3, translated as "For out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem". Behind the curtain are secure 1970s doors housing the Torah scrolls. The Ark sits on a raised platform accessed via an elaborate flight of polished red-veined Sienna marble, a pair of curved steps, and a central pulpit—a notably lavish feature dating from 1926. The central Bimah was added in 1978, positioned centrally in the European orthodox tradition rather than at the east end.

The vestibule contains a pair of columns at each end and a continuous cornice and frieze. The space features various plaques and two elaborate oak doorcases with scrolled brackets opening into the main hall, with a further doorcase on the south side. A stair with a metal geometric balustrade leads to the upper floor, which contains a classroom with a part-glazed partition and central ridge lantern.

History

Golders Green developed rapidly from 1907 when the Hampstead railway terminus opened. Substantial Jewish migration from other parts of London soon followed, creating need for a purpose-built synagogue. From 1914, the Jewish Religious Union established a branch in the area, conducting Reform or Liberal services, but local preference favoured an orthodox traditional synagogue. By the end of the First World War, approximately 300 Jewish families lived in the area. The decision was made to construct a synagogue affiliated with the United Synagogue on a Dunstan Road site. The well-established Jewish architect Digby Soloman was commissioned to design the building, and the foundation stone was laid on 16 October 1921 by Lionel de Rothschild, Chairman of the building committee.

The synagogue was consecrated the following year, though the main hall was not completed until 1925, by which time a different architect, the equally well-established Ernest Joseph, had assumed supervision. Joseph's completed hall was 15 feet wider than Soloman's original design, affording clearer views of proceedings and employing cantilevered concrete balconies to free floor space and sightlines. Joseph also added a western extension in 1927 comprising a vestibule and classrooms within a stone portico. The building was consecrated again in 1927, with a stone foundation plaque identifying the officials of that date. Separate buildings constructed later to the south include the Joseph Freedman Hall (1939) and the nursery (1958) by Ivor Warner, which are not included in this listing.

Golders Green is historically significant as the location of the first major synagogue in an area that rapidly became one of the most important Jewish neighbourhoods in twentieth-century London. The discrete traditional Neo-Georgian exterior, designed by two of the period's most prominent Jewish architects, was deliberately conceived to harmonise with local architecture. The building is designated for both its historic importance and for the particularly impressive interior, which is distinguished by its spatial qualities and the exceptional quality and intactness of its original fittings.