Beth Israel is a Reform congregation and Jewish synagogue in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populou ...

, United States. The congregation was founded in 1858, while Oregon was still a

territory A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, particularly belonging or connected to a country, person, or animal. In international politics, a territory is usually either the total area from which a state may extract power resources or a ...

, and built its first synagogue in 1859.

Architecture

The congregation's first building was a modest, single story, pitched-roof, wood-framed, clapboard building with Gothic, pointed-arch windows and door. This early structure was replaced by an 1889 synagogue building, which was destroyed by fire in December 1923."Fire Destroys Big Synagogue" (December 30, 1923). ''

The Sunday Oregonian ''The Oregonian'' is a daily newspaper based in Portland, Oregon, United States, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the West Coast of the United States, U.S. west coast, founded as a weekly by Th ...

'', pp. 1, 6. Designed by Portland architect Warren H. Williams, the building, called

Moorish revival Moorish Revival or Neo-Moorish is one of the exotic revival architectural styles that were adopted by architects of Europe and the Americas in the wake of Romanticist Orientalism. It reached the height of its popularity after the mid-19th centu ...

design in some sources, is elsewhere described as a combination of eclectic and Gothic revival styles, with two towers topped by bulbous domes.''The Ties that Bind; A Century of Judaism on America's Last Frontier,'' Julius J. Nodel and Alfred Asper, pub. by Temple Beth Israel, Portland, 1959, p. 55 ''

The Oregonian ''The Oregonian'' is a daily newspaper based in Portland, Oregon, United States, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the U.S. west coast, founded as a weekly by Thomas J. Dryer on December 4, 18 ...

'' newspaper in 1923 described its style as "semi-Gothic and Mooresque". It was located at S.W. 12th and Main streets in

downtown Portland Downtown Portland is the city center of Portland, Oregon, United States. It is on the west bank of the Willamette River in the northeastern corner of the southwest section of the city and where most of the city's high-rise buildings are found. ...

. Its two towers were tall, and the main interior space measured , and featured an arched ceiling 52 feet high. Pc-temple-beth-israel-1800

It was replaced in 1928 by a notable

Neo-Byzantine Neo-Byzantine architecture (also referred to as Byzantine Revival) was a revival movement, most frequently seen in religious, institutional and public buildings. It incorporates elements of the Byzantine style associated with Eastern and Orthod ...

synagogue building at N.W. 19th and Flanders that continues to serve the congregation. It was listed as Temple Beth Israel 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 artist ...

in 1979. Designed by

Herman Brookman Herman S. Brookman (July 2, 1891 — November 6, 1973) was an architect in Portland, Oregon, United States. Born in New York, Brookman received early training in the office of society architect Harrie T. Lindeberg and worked there until 1923. ...

, it is considered one of the finest examples of Byzantine-style architecture on the west coast, and was inspired by the

Alte Synagoge The Old Synagogue (german: Alte Synagoge) in Essen is one of the largest, best preserved and architecturally most impressive testimonies to Jewish culture in pre-war Germany. Built in the centre of the city, the Byzantine style former Synagogue ...

(Steelerstrasse Synagogue) in

Essen Essen (; Latin: ''Assindia'') is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and ...

, Germany.

References

External links

Congregation Beth Israel
(official website) {{DEFAULTSORT:Beth Israel (Portland, Oregon) Ashkenazi Jewish culture in the United States Ashkenazi synagogues Religious buildings and structures in Portland, Oregon Jews and Judaism in Portland, Oregon Byzantine Revival synagogues Properties of religious function on the National Register of Historic Places in Oregon Synagogues on the National Register of Historic Places Byzantine Revival architecture in Oregon Reform synagogues in Oregon Synagogue buildings with domes National Register of Historic Places in Portland, Oregon 1928 establishments in Oregon Herman Brookman buildings Northwest District, Portland, Oregon Moorish Revival synagogues Moorish Revival architecture in the United States

Architecture

See also

References

External links