Reform Synagogue Park Place Cheetham Manchester

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. This fine building was consecrated on 25th March 1858. The Synagogue associated itself from the outset with the West London Synagogue, which had been founded in 1841. Indeed, it was following their example that the original name was adopted, the reference to ‘British Jews’ being inclusive of both Ashkenazi and Sephardi. The Park Place building was bombed on 1st June 1941 during the blitz of Manchester. In one disaster, the congregation lost its building as well as most of its records and treasured possessions.

NEW JEWISH SYNAGOGUE – On Wednesday the foundation of a synagogue for Britsih Jews was laid at Park Place, Cheetham Hill Road by Mr Horatio L Micholls.  … The synagogue is to be erected from the designs and under the superintendence of Mr E Salomons, architect, of this city. It will be 98 feet long and 44 feet 6 inches wide. Its general style will be Byzantine, and the exterior will be of red and white brick, with a few stone dressings. There will be two tiers of windows, one above the other below the gallery. The interior will be divided into nave and side aisles; the former lighted by a clerestory having three lights in each bay. The aisles will be marked out by deep horse-shoe arches, resting upon iron columns. At the east end there will be an octagonal apse, in which will be placed the altar, reading desk, etc. The interior has been designed with a view to being rendered most effective by positive warm colouring. The galleries, (with panelled and otherwise decorated fronts) will afford seat room for 250 women; while the floor will seat 400 men. The east end of the synagogue being towards York Street, and the apse being of necessity there, it was impossible to arrange for entrance from the main road. Consequently an entrance porch with a flight of steps will be added to the west end of the north side, or that towards Park Street. The level of the synagogue floor will be 10 feet above the street; and the basement storey will be used as schools. The cost of the synagogue will be from £3,500 to £4,000, nearly all of which has been raised amongst the congregation. [Manchester Courier 14 March 1857 page 7]

CONSECRATION OF THE MANCHESTER SYNAGOGUE OF BRITISH JEWS -Yesterday afternoon the new building in Park-street was consecrated as a synagogue, in which the Manchester congregation of British Jews will worship. The synagogue has been erected from the designs and under the superintendence of Mr E Salomons, architect of this city, the corner stone having been laid on 4 March 1857 by Mr Horatio L Micholls. The building is, in general style, a Saracen modification of the Byzantine; and is 98 feet long, 44 feet 6 inches wide. The exterior is of red and white brick with a few stone dressings; the brickwork being in itself, from the necessities of the style, perhaps the most elaborate yet executed in this city. There are two tiers of windows below the gallery, the lower lighting the basement story, which is to be used for schools, the floor of the synagogue being 10 feet above the street level. The interior of the synagogue is divided into nave and side aisles, the former lighted by a clerestory having three lights in each bay. The lines of the aisles are marked out by deep horse-shoe arches, resting upon iron columns. An open timber roof has been adopted; the arrangement having a novelty as concerns synagogues, but the effect is very good. At the east end there is an octagonal apse containing a temporary ark, reading desk etc. and the gas fittings generally are also temporary. The galleries, which have panelled and decorated fronts will seat 250 persons (women); and the floor will accommodate 400 men. The interior has been designed with a view to being rendered most effectively by positive warm colouring but this cannot be applied for some time as the building must first be allowed to dry thoroughly. The east end of the synagogue being towards York-street and the apse of necessity being there, it was impossible to arrange an entrance from the main road. Consequently an entrance porch with a flight of steps has been added at the west end of the north side, or that towards Park-street. The cost of the synagogue has been from £3000 to £4000, nearly all of which was raised amongst the congregation before the corner-stone was laid. Mr Robert Neill is the general contractor for the erection, but the brickwork has been done by Mr William Higgins. The pulpit is a neat wooded structure ornamented with pretty Moresque arches. It stands on a platform which extends from the apse into the nave, and for the opening ceremony a row of plants in full flower, rhododendrons, erica and primroses, were ranged around the platform. The ark was concealed by a green curtain, which by no means improved the general effect. ....  Report continues with details of the opening ceremony and conversazione at the Palatine Hotel - Salomons present [Manchester Guardian Friday 26 March 1858 Page 3]

Reference    Manchester Courier 14 March 1857 page – 7 foundation stone
Reference    Manchester Guardian Friday 26 March 1858 Page 3
Reference    Manchester Courier Saturday 27 March 1858 page 9
Reference    Manchester Times 27 March 1858 page 5
Reference    Builder 3 April 1858. Page 230
Reference    Edward Jamilly: An introduction to Victorian Synagogues. Victorian Soc Annual 1991