The former Temple Beth-El is a historic building located at 8801

Woodward Avenue A woodward is a warden of a wood. Woodward may also refer to: Places ;United States * Woodward, Iowa * Woodward, Oklahoma * Woodward, Pennsylvania, a census-designated place * Woodward Avenue, a street in Tallahassee, Florida, which bisects th ...

(Woodward at Gladstone) in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and t ...

.Temple Beth-El
from Detroit 1701.org. It was built in 1921 and 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 1982.

Architecture

In 1921 Detroit's Temple Beth El, under Rabbi Leo M. Franklin's leadership, had outgrown its previous building at Woodward and Eliot.Katz, Irving I., ''The Beth El Story (with a History of Jews in Michigan Before 1850),'' Wayne State University Press, 1955, pp. 105-106. In addition, many members of the congregation had moved to areas such as Boston-Edison and Atkinson Avenue that did not proscribe Jewish residents. The congregation obtained a parcel of land near these neighborhoods at Woodward and Gladstone and engaged congregant Albert Kahn to design a new temple. The cornerstone for the new building was laid on September 20, 1921, with the dedication on November 10–12, 1922. The Kahn-designed temple is a classical, flat-roofed structure built from limestone. On the facade facing Woodward, eight ionic columns form an enormous porch and frame three large pairs of doors. Along the facade facing Gladstone, eight tall, narrow are framed by massive piers.

History

In early 1974, the Beth El congregation moved again, this time to

Bloomfield Hills Bloomfield Hills is a small city (5.04 sq. miles) in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is a northern suburb of Metro Detroit and is approximately northwest of Downtown Detroit. Except a small southern border with the city of Bir ...

, and the building was sold to the Lighthouse Tabernacle, becoming known as the Lighthouse Cathedral. Little Rock Baptist Church owned the building from 2008 until 2014 and used it as a community center.Lighthouse Cathedral
from Woodward Avenue Historic Sites In 2008, it was occupied by the

Citadel of Faith Covenant Church A citadel is the core fortified area of a town or city. It may be a castle, fortress, or fortified center. The term is a diminutive of "city", meaning "little city", because it is a smaller part of the city of which it is the defensive core. In ...

.About Citadel of Faith
, Citadel of Faith Covenant Church website. Accessed November 11, 2008 In June 2010, the church became occupied by The Community Church of Christ, under the leadership of Pastor R.A. Cranford. In October 2013, Breakers Covenant Church International began leasing space for their worship services under the leadership of Pastor Aramis D. Hinds Sr. As of October 2014, Breakers Covenant Church International is now the new owner of this property. As of 2017 the Detroit Beth El building is now known as the Bethel Community Transformation Center, owned by a multiracial and multireligious board of trustees which plans to make the building a theater, multi-religion center, and community center.

References

External links

these include photographs c. 1922 - 1973 of both the interior and exterior of the structure.

(congregation using the structure in 2009)
Breakers Covenant Church
(congregation using the structure as of 2017)
Photos
from Curbed Detroit.
Bethel Community Transformation Center
The Bethel Community Transformation Center - organization that is located at former Temple Beth-El now. {{National Register of Historic Places listings in Wayne County, Michigan Former synagogues in the United States Woodward Avenue Jews and Judaism in Detroit Reform synagogues in Michigan Churches in Detroit Synagogues completed in 1921 1921 establishments in Michigan 1974 disestablishments in Michigan National Register of Historic Places in Detroit Synagogues on the National Register of Historic Places in Michigan Albert Kahn (architect) buildings Neoclassical architecture in Michigan Former religious buildings and structures in Michigan