Lloyd Street Synagogue

Last updated
Lloyd Street Synagogue
Lloyd Street Synagogue, 11 Lloyd St., Baltimore City, Maryland.JPG
Lloyd Street Synagogue
Baltimore osm-mapnik location map.png
Red pog.svg
USA Maryland location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location11 Lloyd St., Baltimore, Maryland
Coordinates 39°17′25.7″N76°36′4.5″W / 39.290472°N 76.601250°W / 39.290472; -76.601250 Coordinates: 39°17′25.7″N76°36′4.5″W / 39.290472°N 76.601250°W / 39.290472; -76.601250
Arealess than one acre
Built1841
ArchitectLong, Robert Cary, Jr.; Reasin, William
Architectural styleGreek Revival
NRHP reference No. 78003142 [1]
Significant dates
Added to NRHPApril 19, 1978
Designated BCL1971

The Lloyd Street Synagogue is an 1845 Greek Revival style synagogue building in Baltimore, Maryland. One of the oldest synagogues in the United States, 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 and is open to the public as a museum in the Inner Harbor area of Baltimore. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Contents

History

Lloyd Street was built by the Baltimore Hebrew Congregation, incorporated on January 29, 1830. [2] In 1889, the building was sold to The St. John the Baptist Roman Catholic Church, a parish that served mainly immigrants from Lithuania, which used the building until 1905. [3] 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. [2] [4] The effort to preserve Lloyd Street was the impetus for the founding of the Jewish Historical Society of Maryland, now the Jewish Museum of Maryland. [5] [6]

Baltimore architects Robert Cary Long, Jr. and William Reasin designed the building in the fashionable Greek Revival style. [2] 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 in Newport, Rhode Island and Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim Synagogue, in Charleston, South Carolina. [7]

It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. [1]

In 2011, archaeologists uncovered a mikveh under the synagogue. It is believed to be the oldest known mikveh in the United States. [3]

See also

Related Research Articles

Jews in Philadelphia can trace their history back to Colonial America. Jews have lived in Philadelphia since the arrival of William Penn in 1682.

Baltimore Hebrew Congregation is a synagogue and Jewish community in Baltimore. It is affiliated with the Reform Judaism movement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chizuk Amuno Congregation</span>

Chizuk Amuno Congregation is a large Jewish house of worship affiliated with Conservative Judaism. It is located in Pikesville, Maryland. The congregation's name comes from the Hebrew "Chizzuq 'Emunah", meaning "strengthening the faith". The word "Amuno" is a variant of the Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation of "'Emunah".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jewish Museum of Maryland</span> Museum in Baltimore, Maryland, US

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Congregation Mikveh Israel</span> Synagogue in Philadelphia

Congregation Mikveh Israel, "Holy Community Hope of Israel", is a synagogue in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania that traces its history to 1740. Mikveh Israel is a Spanish and Portuguese synagogue that follows the rite of the Amsterdam esnoga. It is the oldest synagogue in Philadelphia, and the longest running in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Isaac M. Wise Temple</span> United States historic place

The Isaac M. Wise Temple is the historic synagogue erected for Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise and his congregation in Cincinnati, Ohio. Wise was among the founders of American Reform Judaism. The temple building was designed by prominent Cincinnati architect James Keys Wilson. Its design was inspired by the Alhambra at Granada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chizuk Amuno Synagogue</span> United States historic place

Chizuk Amuno Synagogue, is a historic building on the National Register of Historic Places in Baltimore, Maryland. It was once used by the Chizuk Amuno Congregation. It is part of the Jewish Museum of Maryland and is currently used by the B'nai Israel Congregation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim</span> One of the oldest Jewish congregations in the US

Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim is a Reform Synagogue located in Charleston, South Carolina. Having founded the congregation in 1749, it was later claimed to be the first Reform synagogue located in the United States, the current 1841 synagogue was built by enslaved African descendants owned by David Lopez Jr, a prominent slaveowner and proponent of the Confederate States of America, after the original synagogue was destroyed in a fire in 1838. It is one of the oldest Jewish congregations in the United States. The congregation is nationally significant as the place where ideas resembling Reform Judaism were first evinced. It meets in an architecturally significant 1840 Greek Revival synagogue located at 90 Hasell Street in Charleston, South Carolina. It was designed by Cyrus L. Warner.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">B'nai Israel Synagogue (Baltimore)</span> Synagogue in Baltimore, Maryland, United States

B'nai Israel is a Modern Orthodox synagogue located in the historic Jonestown neighborhood, near downtown and the Inner Harbor of Baltimore. The synagogue is one of the oldest synagogue buildings still standing in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lillian & Albert Small Capital Jewish Museum</span>

The Capital Jewish Museum, officially the Lillian & Albert Small Capital Jewish Museum, is a historical society and its planned museum in Washington, D.C., focused on the history of Jewish life in the American capital city and the surrounding Washington metropolitan area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">B'er Chayim Temple</span> United States historic place

B'er Chayim Temple is a synagogue in Cumberland, Maryland that is currently affiliated with the Reform movement. B'er Chayim counts approximately 72 families as members.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gates of Heaven Synagogue</span> United States historic place

Shaarei Shamayim has been the name of two Jewish congregations in Madison, Wisconsin. The first, dating to the 19th century but no longer in existence, built what is now the eighth-oldest synagogue building still standing in the United States. The second congregation, dating to 1989, is the sole Reconstructionist congregation in Madison.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">First Presbyterian Church and Manse (Baltimore, Maryland)</span> Historic church in Maryland, United States

First Presbyterian Church and Manse is a historic Presbyterian church located at West Madison Street and Park Avenue in the Mount Vernon-Belvedere neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland, United States. The church is a rectangular brick building with a central tower flanked by protruding octagonal turrets at each corner. At the north end of the church is a two-story building appearing to be a transept and sharing a common roof with the church, but is separated from the auditorium by a bearing wall. The manse is a three-story stone-faced building. The church was begun about 1854 by Nathan G. Starkweather and finished by his assistant Edmund G. Lind around 1873. It is a notable example of Gothic Revival architecture and a landmark in the City of Baltimore.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shaarei Tfiloh Synagogue</span> United States historic place

Shaarei Tfiloh Synagogue is a historic synagogue located on Druid Hill Park at Baltimore, Maryland, United States. The synagogue is significant due to its association with the immigration of Russian and Eastern European Jews to Baltimore. It is a rock-faced stone structure with large arched stained glass windows and a pedimented roofline surmounted by a central copper-clad dome. Its name means Gates of Prayer in Hebrew.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Green Spring Valley Historic District</span> Historic district in Maryland, United States

Green Spring Valley Historic District is a national historic district near Stevenson in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. It is a suburban area of Baltimore that acquires significance from the collection of 18th, 19th, and early 20th century buildings. The park-like setting retains a late 19th-early 20th century atmosphere. At the turn of the 20th century, the Maryland Hunt Cup and the Grand National Maryland steeplechase races were run over various parts of the valley. The Maryland Hunt Cup, which began as a competition between the Green Spring Valley Hunt and the Elkridge Hunt, traditionally started at Brooklandwood, the previous home of Charles Carrol of Carrollton with the finish across Valley Road at Oakdene, at that time the home of Thomas Deford, which remains a private residence

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Old Ohavi Zedek Synagogue</span> United States historic place

Old Ohavi Zedek Synagogue is a historic synagogue building at Archibald and Hyde Streets in Burlington, Vermont. It was built in 1885 for Ohavi Zedek, Vermont's oldest Jewish congregation, and is currently occupied by Congregation Ahavath Gerim. The building, a distinctive vernacular interpretation of the Gothic Revival, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.

The city of Cumberland, Maryland is home to a small and declining but historically significant Jewish community. The city is home to a single synagogue, B'er Chayim Temple, one of the oldest synagogues in the United States. Cumberland has had a Jewish presence since the early 1800s. The community was largest prior to the 1960s, but has declined in number over the decades. Historically, the Jewish community in Cumberland maintained several synagogues, a Jewish cemetery, and a Hebrew school. By 2019, Cumberland's Jewish community had its lowest population point since the early 1900s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Congregation Shearith Israel (Baltimore, Maryland)</span> Synagogue in Baltimore, Maryland

for the other United States congregations with the same name, see Shearith Israel (disambiguation); for the historic synagogue in New York, see Shearith Israel.

References

  1. 1 2 "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  2. 1 2 3 ""Baltimore Travel Itinerary-The Lloyd Street and Chizuk Amuno Synagogues:. National Park Service. Retrieved December 29, 2010.
  3. 1 2 Roylance, Frank D. (February 13, 2011). "Jewish ritual bath found in Baltimore may be oldest in U.S." The Baltimore Sun.
  4. "History". Shomreimish Mishmeres.
  5. Bilitsky, Helen Mintz (February 2002). "The Jewish Traveler:Baltimore". Hadassah Magazine. Archived from the original on November 23, 2008. Retrieved June 16, 2008.
  6. Michele LeFaivre (1976). "National Register of Historic Places Registration: Lloyd Street Synagogue" (PDF). Maryland Historical Trust. Retrieved April 1, 2016.
  7. Gordon, Mark W. "Rediscovering Jewish Infrastructure: 2022 Update on United States Eighteenth and Nineteenth-Century Synagogues", American Jewish Historical Society, November 4, 2021. Accessed February 22, 2023.