Bayswater Synagogue

The former synagogue building.

Bayswater Synagogue was an Ashkenazi-Orthodox synagogue located in Chichester Place, Paddington, London, near the Harrow Road. Built in 1863, as a branch synagogue jointly of the Great Synagogue and the New Synagogue, it was one of the original five synagogues that formed the United Synagogue in 1870. The original building was demolished in 1965 for construction of the Westway overpass and the Warwick Estate redevelopment.

History

From about 1820, many Jewish families had joined the westward expansion of London, placing them at an inconvenient distance from established synagogues whose wardens ("the Jewish City Fathers") required them to attend, even to the exclusion of private worship. Agitation commenced for a new synagogue, and "endless negative negotiations ensued between those who had moved into the Bayswater area and the authorities of the City synagogues." Support was gained from Chief Rabbi Nathan Marcus Adler and, after orderly formal proceedings, the Chichester Road site was selected and the foundation stone laid on 10 July 1862. On 21 February 1863 The Illustrated London News published an article on the new synagogue and, on 30 July 1863, the building was consecrated by the Chief Rabbi.

WWII bombing

During the Blitz of World War II, the board-room was destroyed by Luftwaffe bombing, with the loss of a portrait gallery of 19th-century communal leaders. On the same night (10 May 1941), both London's Great Synagogue and the 1870 Central Synagogue were also destroyed.

Notable rabbis

• Dr Hermann Adler CVO preached at Bayswater Synagogue from 1864 to 1891, and served as Chief Rabbi of the UK from 1891 to 1911.
• Sir Hermann Gollancz was the preacher from 1892 to 1922.
• The distinguished Australian Raymond Apple AO occupied the pulpit in the synagogue's final years (1960–1965).

External links

• Apple, Raymond (Rabbi) End of an era at Bayswater The Jewish Chronicle, 28 December 1984
• Apple, Raymond (Rabbi) Valedictory Sermon – Bayswater Synagogue 8 May 1965, at OzTorah
• Bayswater Synagogue at AIM25 Archives collection, March 2010
• Baker T. F. T.; Bolton, Diane K.; Croot, Patricia E. C. (1989). Elrington C. R. (ed.). "Paddington: Judaism". A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 9: Hampstead, Paddington. Institute of Historical Research. pp. 264–265. Retrieved 13 September 2013.