Sandys Row Synagogue

The building was constructed in 1766 by refugee French Huguenots as a community church, named L'Eglise de l'Artillerie (the Artillery Church), on a small street called Parliament Court, Artillery Street, in Bishopsgate. The church took its name from the street, which in turn took its name from the fact that in the time of Henry VIII, the artillery practiced there. With changing demographics, the church passed into the hands of the Universalist Baptists, the Unitarian Baptists, the Scottish Baptists, and the Salem Chapel. In the mid-19th century, it was purchased by a Jewish society, the Hevrat Menahem Avalim Hesed v'Emeth (Heb: The Comforters of Mourners Kindness and Truth Society). The…

The congregation hired architect Nathan S. Joseph to remodel the former church. The building is rectangular and measures 48 by. A women's gallery runs along the north, west, and south walls. The difficulty was that the entrance was on the south east corner of the building. Jews traditionally pray in the direction of Jerusalem, which, in London, in towards the southeast. Joseph's solution was to brick up the former entrance, place the Torah Ark on the southeast wall, and open a new door on the northwest wall, opening onto Sandys Row. Solomon modeled the handsome Georgian interior after the style of the Great Synagogue of London in Duke's Place. Like the Great Synagogue, Sandys Row has a…