Singers Hill Synagogue Explained

Singers Hill Synagogue
Image Upright:	1.4
Religious Affiliation:	Orthodox Judaism
Festivals:	-->
Organisational Status:	Synagogue
Organizational Status:	-->
Leadership:	Rabbi Yossi Jacobs
Functional Status:	Active
Location:	26, 26A and 26B Blucher Street, Birmingham, West Midlands, England, B1 1HL
Country:	United Kingdom
Map Type:	West Midlands (region)
Map Size:	250
Map Relief:	1
Architect:	Yeoville Thomason
Architecture Type:	Synagogue architecture
Established:	1780
Year Completed:	1856
Date Destroyed:	-->
Materials:	Red brick
Elevation Ft:	-->
Module:	Embed: yes Designation1: Grade II* Designation1 Offname: The Synagogue Designation1 Type: Listed building Designation1 Number: 1075712
Footnotes:	^[1]

The Singers Hill Synagogue, officially the Birmingham Hebrew Congregation, is an Orthodox Jewish congregation and synagogue, located at 26, 26A and 26B Blucher Street, in the Birmingham city centre, in the West Midlands of England, in the United Kingdom. The congregation dates from 1780 and worshiped in the Ashkenazi rite.

The synagogue building was listed as a Grade II* building in 1970.

History

The forebears of the congregation commenced in 1780 when the community's first synagogue was completed in an area at the time known as The Froggery. The congregation subsequently moved to a synagogue in Hurst Street in 1791; and the Severn Street Synagogue, which survives as a masonic hall, was completed in 1809; and remodelled in 1827, following a fire.^[1] The fourth and current synagogue building was completed in 1856, designed by Yeoville Thomason.^[2]

The 1856 building features "a Norman-wheel window in a building design in red and yellow brick, which combined Classical Revival, Romanesque Revival, and Italianate details, and used a classical basilica plan, with a central Bimah".^{[3] [4]}

The stained glass windows were commissioned from Hardman Studios in 1956-1963, in a process overseen by the former chairman of the Synagogue's council, Joseph Cohen.^{[5] [6]}

See also

• History of the Jews in England
• List of Jewish communities in the United Kingdom
• List of synagogues in the United Kingdom

Notes and References

1. Web site: Shulman, David . Birmingham Hebrew Congregation . Jewish Communities and Records - UK . JewishGen and the Jewish Genealogical Society of Great Britain . 18 April 2024 . 4 May 2024 .
2. Web site: Jewish Birmingham . Birmingham City Council .
3. Web site: Architecture . Singers Hills Congregation . 2006-05-17 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20060616011524/http://singershill.com/architecture.htm . 16 June 2006 . dmy-all .
4. Web site: 360 degree internal views . BBC .
5. Book: The Stained Glass Windows . 1963 . Birmingham Hebrew Congregation .
6. Web site: Looking at Buildings . Pevsner Architectural Guides . https://web.archive.org/web/20050105170116/http://www.lookingatbuildings.org.uk/default.asp?document=3.B.2.4 . 2005-01-05 .