Sunderland Synagogue

The forebears of the congregation date from the establishment of the Polish Synagogue in 1781 and the Sunderland Israelite Congregation, formed in 1821. The two congregations merged, together with several smaller congregations, in 1861 to form the Sunderland Hebrew Congregation and moved into the original Adath Yeshurun synagogue on Moor Street, Sunderland, in 1862. It is the last surviving synagogue to be designed by Glass. The synagogue was listed as a Grade II historic structure in 1999. It became Sunderland's main place of Jewish worship once the former Sunderland Beth Hamedresh, on the corner of Mowbray Road and The Oaks West, closed in 1984. The congregation ceased meeting in 2006.…

Architectural historian Sharman Kadish described the synagogue's colourful design as a blend of Byzantine Revival and "cinematic art deco style." Kadish described the interior as "spanned by a deep barrel vault over the central aisle, which was originally painted to imitate a star-spangled sky. The gallery runs around three sides carried on slender iron columns with palmette capitals. The plasterwork Ark canopy is highly decorative, painted and gilded. It is classical in form but features decoration of Islamic and Byzantine origin, especially the cushion capitals to the columns and the chevron patterns on the shafts ..."