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CityProvidenceStateRI

Historical NameTemple Beth-El

Year Built1911
Building TypeSynagogue

Address688 Broad Street

Current NameCongregation Shaare Zedek - Sons of Abraham

Name of Builder 1Banning & ThortonCompany

Name of Builder 2

Name of Builder 3

ListingNRHP, 12/29/88

DescriptionA two-story Classical Revival building of Roman brick and terra cotta, set on a high basement

of rusticated brick. A broad flight of stairs leads up to a central portico with a pair of

monumental Corinthian columns which support the pediment. The portico entablature has

Hebrew inscription in raised lettering and the tympana of the pediment contains Stars of David

in blue and yellow glazed tile. The temple was unchanged except for the addition of a bemah

and was not destroyed during the urban renewal program that razed the other surrounding

buildings in the 1950s and 1960s.

StyleClassical Revival

Bibliography

SignificanceThis synagogue stands as a symbol of the growth and changing status of the Jewish community

since this synagogue was the first in the city of such a grand and monumental design. The first

Jewish families to arrive in Providence in the mid-1800s were Ashkenazic from German

speaking areas. It is now used by an Orthodox group that was the product of the joining of five

smaller congregations in 1954.

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