The Dunedin Synagogue is a historic synagogue in Dunedin, New Zealand. It is reputedly the world's southernmost permanent synagogue, although a further synagogue operated briefly in King Edward Street, South Dunedin from late 2017 until 2019.
The name can refer both to the historic building, the old Dunedin synagogue, and to the Dunedin Jewish Congregation, Dunedin. [1]
Dunedin's first Jewish congregation assembled in January 1862 in the home of H.E. Nathan in George Street. With 43 members, it was clear that a more permanent base was needed, and a site in Moray Place. A synagogue, designed by W. H. Sumner, was built and opened in September 1863. [2] This building was used until 1881, by which time it was proving too small for the growing congregation. [3] The building was sold to the Freemasons, who occupied it until 1992 as a Masonic Lodge. Since that time it has been a private residence, and was an art gallery (the Temple Gallery) during the 2000s, before reverting to being a private residence. [4] This structure is the southernmost permanent site, past or present, of a synagogue in the world.
Plans to move to a larger synagogue were being made by 1875. By this time the congregation had grown to the point that the new synagogue was to be one of the largest in the southern hemisphere, and one of the largest places of worship of any denomination in Dunedin. [2] The new building, opened in 1881, was built almost directly across Moray Place from the first synagogue, and was designed by Louis Boldini with a facade ornamented by a series of Doric columns. The building was capable of holding a congregation of 600 people. [2] This building served as the city's synagogue until 1965, when the now dwindled congregation moved to a new, smaller building in George Street. The Boldini synagogue was sold to the Y.M.C.A. and was demolished shortly afterwards to make way for that organisation's new building. The site of this structure is now that of a multi-storey car park building.
The current (third) synagogue, was erected in 1965 in Dunedin North, not far from the University of Otago. A more modest building than its predecessors, the building is compact and is constructed of concrete block. It was designed by John Goldwater, a Jewish New Zealand architect who also more famously designed the Auckland Jewish community centre. As with its predecessors, it lays claim to being the world's southernmost permanent synagogue. [5]
The Dunedin Jewish Congregation is a Progressive Jewish community and a member of the Union for Progressive Judaism (UPJ), the regional division of the World Union for Progressive Judaism. Services are held approximately one Friday a month along with most holidays.
Selwyn College is a residential college affiliated to the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand. It was founded by Bishop Samuel Tarratt Nevill as a theological college training clergy for the Anglican Church and as a hall of residence for students attending the university. It is named after George Augustus Selwyn, the first Bishop of New Zealand and is owned by the Anglican Diocese of Dunedin. It was opened on 15 January 1893. It was Otago's first residential college and on the model of an English university college it included students of all subjects. Women were admitted in 1983. The main building is listed as a Category II Historic Place. Selwyn is one of the most popular colleges in Dunedin, its 214 available places oversubscribed every year.
The West London Synagogue of British Jews, abbreviated WLS, is a synagogue and congregation near Marble Arch in central London. It was established on 15 April 1840. The current synagogue building in Upper Berkeley Street, dedicated in 1870, is Grade II listed. It is one of the oldest synagogues in the United Kingdom and it was the oldest house of prayer affiliated with the Movement for Reform Judaism, before its affiliation lapsed in February 2023.
First Church is a prominent church in the New Zealand city of Dunedin. It is located in the heart of the city on Moray Place, 100 metres to the south of the city centre. The church is the city's primary Presbyterian church. The building is regarded as the most impressive of New Zealand's nineteenth-century churches, and is listed by Heritage New Zealand as a Category I structure.
The Octagon is the city centre of Dunedin, in the South Island of New Zealand. It is an eight-sided plaza with a circular one-way carriageway, bisected by the city's main street, and is also the central terminus of two other main thoroughfares. The Octagon is predominantly a pedestrian reserve, with grass and paved features, and is surmounted by a statue of the Scottish poet Robert Burns. Several of Dunedin's significant buildings and institutions adjoin the plaza, which is also a major hub for public transport in Dunedin, primarily taxi services.
Princes Street is a major street in Dunedin, the second largest city in the South Island of New Zealand. It runs south-southwest for two kilometres from The Octagon in the city centre to the Oval sports ground, close to the city's Southern Cemetery. North of The Octagon, George Street continues the line of Princes Street north-northeast for two and a half kilometres. Princes Street is straight but undulating, skirting the edge of the City Rise to its northwest. The part of the street immediately below The Octagon is the steepest section, as the road traverses an old cutting through Bell Hill.
Moray Place is an octagonal street which surrounds the city centre of Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand. The street is intersected by Stuart Street, Princes Street and George Street. Like many streets in Dunedin, it is named for a street in the Scottish capital Edinburgh.
The Dunedin Public Art Gallery holds the main public art collection of the city of Dunedin, New Zealand. Located in The Octagon in the heart of the city, it is close to the city's public library, Dunedin Town Hall, and other facilities such as the Regent Theatre.
The Liberal Jewish Synagogue, or LJS, is a house of prayer in St John's Wood, London, founded in 1911. It is the oldest and largest member of Britain's Liberal Judaism, a constituent member of the World Union for Progressive Judaism.
The Toitū Otago Settlers Museum is a regional history museum in Dunedin, New Zealand. Its brief covers the territory of the old Otago Province, that is, New Zealand from the Waitaki River south, though its main focus is the city of Dunedin. It is New Zealand's oldest history museum.
Stuart Street is one of the main streets of Dunedin, New Zealand. As with many of Dunedin's streets, it is named after a main street in Edinburgh, Scotland.
New Zealand Jews, whether by culture, ethnicity, or religion, form with Hawaii (8,000-10,000), the joint-second largest (7,500-10,000) Jewish community in Oceania, behind Australia (118,000).
Caversham is one of the older suburbs of the city of Dunedin, in New Zealand's South Island. It is sited at the western edge of the city's central plain at the mouth of the steep Caversham Valley, which rises to the saddle of Lookout Point. Major road and rail routes south lie nearby; the South Island Main Trunk railway runs through the suburb, and a bypass skirts its main retail area, connecting Dunedin's one-way street system with the Dunedin Southern Motorway. The suburb is linked by several bus routes to its neighbouring suburbs and central Dunedin.
Knox Church is a notable building in Dunedin, New Zealand. It houses the city's second Presbyterian congregation and is the city's largest church of any denomination.
James Louis Salmond was a New Zealand architect active in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Many of his buildings remain, particularly in Otago. He established a practice carried on by his son and grandson into the 21st century.
The Dunedin Town Hall, also known as the Dunedin Centre, is a municipal building in the city of Dunedin in New Zealand. It is located in the heart of the city extending from The Octagon, the central plaza, to Moray Place through a whole city block. It is the seat of the Dunedin City Council, providing its formal meeting chamber, as well as a large auditorium and a conference centre. The oldest part of the building has been called the only substantial Victorian town hall still in existence in New Zealand.
Temple Israel is the oldest of eleven Progressive synagogues in South Africa. It is a provincial heritage site, built in the Art Deco style by architect Hermann Kallenbach. It is located in the Johannesburg suburb of Hillbrow. It is an affiliate of the South African Union for Progressive Judaism (SAUPJ), which is part of the World Union for Progressive Judaism (WUPJ).
Louis Boldini was an Italian-born architect who made considerable contributions to the architecture of Dunedin, New Zealand and Victoria, Australia.
St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church was a prominent church in Dunedin, New Zealand. Designed by pre-eminent Dunedin Robert Lawson it was constructed in 1870 to serve a rapidly developing area of the city which became notorious for its slum housing, poverty and crime which led to it being referred to as the “Devil’s Half-Acre” from 1873 onwards. The church is best known for its long time crusading minister the Reverend Rutherford Waddell. Waddell’s ‘Sin of Cheapness’ sermon which was a landmark in New Zealand’s social and labour history was delivered from its pulpit. It eventually closed as a place of Presbyterian worship in 1978 and after briefly serving as a place of worship for the Word of Life Pentecostal Church it was purchased by the Coptic Orthodox Church in 2000, who renamed it the Archangel Michael Coptic Orthodox Church.