|
The Reform Synagogue
 The web site of the Reform Synagogue
on Jackson Row explains its origins as follows: "The
Manchester Reform Synagogue was founded in 1857 when
Manchester’s Orthodox synagogue, Halliwell Street, split
into two congregations. One became the Orthodox Great
Synagogue. The other, which represented those members of
the Manchester Jewish community of a reformist tendency,
became the Manchester Congregation of British Jews. The
latter took with them the services of the Rabbi of
Halliwell Street, Rabbi Doctor Schiller-Szennessy. Their
original building was in Park Place, at the near end of
Cheetham Hill Road, then a busy Jewish neighbourhood."
 In 1941 the Park Place building was destroyed in the Manchester blitz during June of that year. The congregation continued to meet in temporary accommodation for a number of years but in 1949 the site on Jackson Row was purchased. The new synagogue was designed by Eric Levy and Peter Cummings. The rather unusual figurative stained glass was designed by John Bradshaw and created by C. Lightfoot. The site was consecrated on the 18th of May 1952 and the building opened on November 28, 1953.      In 2015, the area of Jackson Row is
scheduled for redevelopment and the plan is to
demolish this building and relocate the synagogue.
|
Close Window