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 ...

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 Old or OLD may refer to: Places *Old, Baranya, Hungary *Old, Northamptonshire, England *Old Street station, a railway and tube station in London (station code OLD) *OLD, IATA code for Old Town Municipal Airport and Seaplane Base, Old Town, Mai ...

, 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 The Jewish Museum of Maryland is located in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. The museum tells the story of the American Jewish experience in the city of Baltimore and throughout the US state of Maryland. Description The museum is one of the c ...

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". The ...

area of Baltimore. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

History

Lloyd Street was built by the

Baltimore Hebrew Congregation Baltimore Hebrew Congregation is a synagogue and Jewish community in Baltimore. It is affiliated with the Reform Judaism movement. Originally named Nidche Yisroel,''Jewish Encyclopedia'' bibliography: *Archives of the congregations; *files of the ...

, 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 Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...

from

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. 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

. 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 The Touro Synagogue or Congregation Jeshuat Israel ( he, קהל קדוש ישועת ישראל) is a synagogue built in 1763 in Newport, Rhode Island. It is the Oldest synagogues in the United States, oldest synagogue building still standing in t ...

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, Rhode Island, Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, ...

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, it ...

, in

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...

.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 and ...

, 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 v ...

in 1978. In 2011, archaeologists uncovered a

mikveh Mikveh or mikvah (, ''mikva'ot'', ''mikvoth'', ''mikvot'', or (Yiddish) ''mikves'', lit., "a collection") is a bath used for the purpose of ritual immersion in Judaism to achieve ritual purity. Most forms of ritual impurity can be purif ...

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

References

External links

*, including undated photo, at Maryland Historical Trust *
The Jewish Museum of Maryland websiteLloyd 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

History

Gallery

See also

References

External links