The Lloyd Street Synagogue is an 1845
Greek Revival
The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States and Canada, but a ...
style synagogue building in
Baltimore
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
, Maryland. One of the
oldest synagogues in the United States, Lloyd Street was the first synagogue building erected in Maryland and is the third oldest synagogue building still standing in the United States. Lloyd Street is now owned by the
Jewish Museum of Maryland and is open to the public as a museum in the
Inner Harbor
The Inner Harbor is a historic seaport, tourist attraction, and landmark of the city of Baltimore, Maryland. It was described by the Urban Land Institute in 2009 as "the model for post-industrial waterfront redevelopment around the world". Th ...
area of Baltimore. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
History
Lloyd Street was built by the
Baltimore Hebrew Congregation, incorporated on January 29, 1830.
["Baltimore Travel Itinerary-The Lloyd Street and Chizuk Amuno Synagogues]
. ''National Park Service''. Retrieved December 29, 2010. In 1889, the building was sold to The St. John the Baptist Roman Catholic Church, a parish that served mainly
immigrants from
Lithuania, which used the building until 1905.
[ In 1905, it was sold to congregation Shomrei Mishmeres HaKodesh, an Orthodox Jewish congregation of immigrants from Eastern Europe, which continued to use the building until 1963, when the building was threatened with demolition.] The effort to preserve Lloyd Street was the impetus for the founding of the Jewish Historical Society of Maryland, now the Jewish Museum of Maryland.
Baltimore architects Robert Cary Long, Jr.
Robert Cary Long Jr. (1810–1849) was the son of a late 18th Century - early 19th Century famous architect Robert Cary Long Sr. of Baltimore, Maryland and was himself a well-known 19th Century architect. Like his father, Cary was based in Baltim ...
and William Reasin designed the building in the fashionable Greek Revival style. Four doric columns support a classic pediment, all painted light pink. The body of the building is brick. The building is a near-twin of St. Peter the Apostle Church, designed by Long in 1842.
Lloyd Street is the third oldest synagogue building in the United States (several earlier buildings are no longer standing.) The two oldest synagogue buildings, both still in active use, are the Touro Synagogue in Newport, Rhode Island
Newport is an American seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, and northeast of New Yor ...
and Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim Synagogue
Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim ( he, קהל קדוש בית אלוהים, also known as K. K. Beth Elohim, or more simply Congregation Beth Elohim) is a Reform Synagogue located in Charleston, South Carolina. Having founded the congregation in 1749, i ...
, in Charleston, South Carolina.[Gordon, Mark W]
Jewish Infrastructure: 2022 Update on United States Eighteenth and Nineteenth-Century Synagogues"
American Jewish Historical Society
The American Jewish Historical Society (AJHS) was founded in 1892 with the mission to foster awareness and appreciation of American Jewish history and to serve as a national scholarly resource for research through the collection, preservation an ...
, November 4, 2021. Accessed February 22, 2023.
It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
in 1978.
In 2011, archaeologists uncovered a mikveh under the synagogue. It is believed to be the oldest known mikveh in the United States.
Gallery
File:Lloyd Street Synagogue.jpg, Lloyd Street Synagogue in 1958
See also
* Oldest synagogues in the United States
References
External links
*, including undated photo, at Maryland Historical Trust
*
The Jewish Museum of Maryland website
Lloyd Street Synagogue – Explore Baltimore Heritage
{{National Register of Historic Places in Maryland
Jonestown, Baltimore
Synagogues completed in 1845
Former synagogues in Maryland
Greek Revival synagogues
Lithuanian-Jewish culture in Maryland
Properties of religious function on the National Register of Historic Places in Baltimore
Greek Revival church buildings in Maryland
Synagogues preserved as museums
Synagogues in Baltimore
Museums in Baltimore
Historic American Buildings Survey in Baltimore
Former Roman Catholic church buildings in Maryland
Synagogues on the National Register of Historic Places in Maryland
Baltimore City Landmarks