Middle Street Synagogue
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Middle Street Synagogue is a synagogue in the centre of Brighton, part of the
English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...
city of
Brighton and Hove Brighton and Hove () is a city and unitary authority in East Sussex, England. It consists primarily of the settlements of Brighton and Hove, alongside neighbouring villages. Often referred to synonymously as Brighton, the City of Brighton and H ...
. It was the centre for
Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
worship in Brighton and Hove for more than a century. Although it is not in full-time use, the building is still open at certain times, and cultural events frequently take place, as do weddings. It has been
listed Listed may refer to: * Listed, Bornholm, a fishing village on the Danish island of Bornholm * Listed (MMM program), a television show on MuchMoreMusic * Endangered species in biology * Listed building, in architecture, designation of a historicall ...
at Grade II*, reflecting its architectural and historic importance.


History

A Jewish community existed in the Brighton area for nearly a century before Middle Street synagogue was built in 1874. A
Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
n settler, Emanuel Hyam Cohen, established a Jewish school on the seafront in the 1780s and a place of worship between 1789 and 1792. The latter moved from Jew Street (off Bond Street) to West Street in 1808, but there is no record of the nature of the buildings; meetings may in fact have taken place in private houses. The Brighton Regency Synagogue was built in 1823 on land leased from a hotel, and enlarged by
David Mocatta David Alfred Mocatta (1806–1882) was a British architect and a member of the Anglo-Jewish Mocatta family. Early career David Alfred Mocatta was born to a Sephardic Jewish family in 1806, the son of the licensed bullion broker Moses Mocat ...
(architect of
Brighton railway station Brighton railway station is the southern terminus of the Brighton Main Line in England, and the principal station serving the city of Brighton, East Sussex. It is from via . The station is managed by Govia Thameslink Railway, which operat ...
, and member of the prominent Jewish
Mocatta Mocatta (also ''de Mattos Mocatta'', ''Lumbroso de Mattos Mocatta'' and ''Lumbrozo de Mattos Mocatta'') is a surname. The Mocatta family is a leading Anglo-Jewish family that traces its ancestry to the Sephardic Jewish communities of Spain and P ...
family) in 1836. It was used until the new synagogue was opened in Middle Street in 1875. Situated on Devonshire Place, the stuccoed building in the
Classical style Classical architecture usually denotes architecture which is more or less consciously derived from the principles of Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, or sometimes even more specifically, from the works of the Roman architect V ...
still stands; an inscription on the outside, including the
Hebrew calendar The Hebrew calendar ( he, הַלּוּחַ הָעִבְרִי, translit=HaLuah HaIvri), also called the Jewish calendar, is a lunisolar calendar used today for Jewish religious observance, and as an official calendar of the state of Israel. ...
year of opening (5598), can still be seen on the entablature, but it is now in commercial use. The
Chanukah or English translation: 'Establishing' or 'Dedication' (of the Temple in Jerusalem) , nickname = , observedby = Jews , begins = 25 Kislev , ends = 2 Tevet or 3 Tevet , celebrations = Lighting candles each night ...
menorah at the Middle Synagogue was brought from the Brighton Regency Synagogue. Chief Rabbi
Nathan Marcus Adler Nathan Marcus HaKohen Adler (13 January 1803 – 21 January 1890) (Hebrew name: Natan ben Mordechai ha-Kohen) was the Orthodox Chief Rabbi of the British Empire from 1845 until his death. Life A kohen by birth, Adler was born in Hanover, in pr ...
attended the start of construction work in Middle Street on 19 November 1874. The architect, Thomas Lainson, had been responsible for many buildings in Hove, including a Congregational church and the residential development on the Wick Farm estate, and also the Bristol Road Methodist Church in Kemptown. After ten months of work at a cost of £12,000 (equivalent to £ in ), the dedication ceremony took place on 23 September 1875 and the synagogue was opened. Its capacity of 300 was six times higher than that of its predecessor. The
Sassoon family The Sassoon family, known as "Rothschilds of the East" due to the immense wealth they accumulated in finance and trade, are a family of Baghdadi Jewish descent. Originally based in Baghdad, Iraq, they later moved to Bombay, India, and then emigr ...
, a wealthy Jewish dynasty with links to Brighton and Hove, funded various expansions and improvements over the next few decades, especially in respect of the internal fittings, which are very elaborate for a synagogue. Electric lighting was installed in 1892, making it the first electrically lit synagogue in Britain. Although the Jewish community in the city numbered 4,000 by 2004, the Middle Street synagogue fell out of regular use at that time, although it is still opened regularly for educational and architectural tours of the interior, especially during the annual
Brighton Festival Brighton Festival is a large, annual, curated multi-arts festival in England. It includes music, theatre, dance, circus, art, film, literature, debate, outdoor and family events, and takes place in venues in the city of Brighton and Hove in Engla ...
. Urgent structural repairs, including a new roof, were required by that time. A combination of fundraising concerts, auctions and a grant of several hundred thousand pounds from the government agency
English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...
enabled restoration work to take place. Middle Street Synagogue was listed at Grade II* by
English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...
on 20 August 1971. This status is given to "particularly important buildings of more than special interest". In February 2001, it was one of 70 Grade II*-listed buildings and structures in the city of
Brighton and Hove Brighton and Hove () is a city and unitary authority in East Sussex, England. It consists primarily of the settlements of Brighton and Hove, alongside neighbouring villages. Often referred to synonymously as Brighton, the City of Brighton and H ...
. It was also licensed for worship in accordance with the
Places of Worship Registration Act 1855 The Places of Worship Registration Act 1855 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which governs the registration and legal recognition of places of worship. It applies only in England and Wales, and does not cover the Church of Englan ...
and had the registration number 30824.


Architecture

The synagogue has been described as Brighton's second most important historic building, behind the
Royal Pavilion The Royal Pavilion, and surrounding gardens, also known as the Brighton Pavilion, is a Grade I listed former royal residence located in Brighton, England. Beginning in 1787, it was built in three stages as a seaside retreat for George, Princ ...
. The exterior, which was executed in pale Sussex brick by the builders George Cheesman and son, is in an eclectic blend of
Italian Renaissance The Italian Renaissance ( it, Rinascimento ) was a period in Italian history covering the 15th and 16th centuries. The period is known for the initial development of the broader Renaissance culture that spread across Europe and marked the trans ...
and Neo-Byzantine Revival styles. The west-facing elevation to Middle Street uses yellow bricks in an English bond pattern, while the other walls are of brown brick. The arched windows are surmounted by contrasting red and blue tiles, and are flanked by red coloured columns. There is a large rose window in the west-facing frontage. The façade consists of five bays, alternately projecting and recessed; on the ground floor the layout of windows (protected since the 1960s with translucent safety panels) is two in each end bay and one each in the two recessed bays, with the wooden entrance door on the centre bay (between two pink columns with ornamented capitals). On the first floor, the eight windows are arranged in pairs on the three projecting bays, with one in each of the recesses. Sharman Kadish remarks that "Nothing prepares the visitor for the sumptuousness of Middle Street's interior." There are ladies' galleries on three sides, held up by cast-iron columns decorated with imitation marble-effect paintwork with gilded metalwork capitals depicting plants, fruit, flowers and crops from the Middle East region. Thomas Lainson's design for the interior followed the Neo-Byzantine Revival style, . The building takes the form of a
basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's Forum (Roman), forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building ...
. There are ladies' galleries on three sides, held up by cast-iron columns decorated with imitation marble-effect paintwork. the capitals are fashioned of hammered copper and iron, each one is individually worked to show a different one of the species of plants, fruit, flowers and crops from the Land of Israel. The particularly decorative and ornate interior, funded by the generosity of the Sassoon family and visitors from outside Brighton, was built mostly of iron, but the surfaces that meet the eye are lavishly stenciled, gilded, or made of brass, marble, and mosaics. The
Torah Ark A Torah ark (also known as the ''Heikhal'', or the ''Aron Kodesh'') refers to an ornamental chamber in the synagogue that houses the Torah scrolls. History The ark, also known as the ''ark of law'', or in Hebrew the ''Aron Kodesh'' or ''aron ha- ...
sits on a marble-stepped
dais A dais or daïs ( or , American English also but sometimes considered nonstandard)dais
in the Random House Dictionary< ...
in the centre of the
apse In architecture, an apse (plural apses; from Latin 'arch, vault' from Ancient Greek 'arch'; sometimes written apsis, plural apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an '' exedra''. ...
, below an arch supported by elaborate columns. It is top-lit via a stained glass half-dome. The surrounding rails, menorah and pulpit are all brass. There is late-19th century stained glass in all of the windows, much of it by Campbell & Smith.


See also

*
Grade II* listed buildings in Brighton and Hove There are 72 Listed building, Grade II* listed buildings in the city of Brighton and Hove, England. The city, on the English Channel coast approximately south of London, was formed as a unitary authority in 1997 by the merger of the neighbou ...
* List of places of worship in Brighton and Hove


References


Notes


Bibliography

* * * * *


External links


Brighton & Hove Hebrew Congregation
o
''Jewish Communities and Records – UK''
(hosted by ''jewishgen.org'').
Video About Middle Street

Facebook Page & Events at Middle Street Synagogue
{{B&H Buildings 1874 establishments in England Grade II* listed buildings in Brighton and Hove Synagogues completed in 1875 Synagogues in Brighton and Hove