NEW SYNAGOGUE

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 32, 9 February 1929, Page 17

NEW SYNAGOGUE

REPLACING OLD LANDMARK

A HANDSOME BUILDING

An important event in the life of the Jewish community-of Wellington will take place to-morrow afternoon, when .Rabbi H. Vah'Staveren will lay the foundationstone of the synagogue to replace the old^ building erected in 1870 and recently, demolished. The new synagogue will occupy the same site on The Terrace as the previous building, the site having been given in trust to the Wellington Hebrew _ congregation by the terms of a deed signed by Sir George Grey in 1876 under the Crown Grants Act of 1862.

Standing back from the street alignment, the frontage will: present a. dignified yet pleasing appearance.'An imprnssion of solidarity and permanence will be given by tho brick and reinforced concrete q£ which it is to be constructed, but any tendency towards severity 'will be relieved by the artistic arrangement of the "columns, cornices, and enrichments done in white cement. The main entrance will be in the centre of the street frontage, and will be flanked by two big' Grecian pillars of thp Corinthian type.' . , '

From a vestibule inside the.front door's wide stairways lead to the ladies' gallery, adjoining which will be the ladies' cloakroom. From the: vestibule doors will also open into tlie men's cloak-room. Tiro double doors, will give entrance to

the Synagogue, mwhich'the almemar will be placed at theend opposite the doors. Provision has-been made for seats qn either side and in front of the almemar, and the' accommodation will be as follows: 175 in the gallery, 304 on the ground, floor, and 20in the choir, a total of just on 500. In 'addition, the' building will include at the; rear five class-rooms, foe which there will be a separate' entrance.

The interior is to be beautifully finished, off. The floors of the class-rooms and the vestibule and the. staircases- will be tiled, and the walls will be of,plaster, with panelled, dadocti. .The ceiling, will be finished with modelled and enriched n'brolis plaster. '. . '■'- „, > The new Synagogue is' being built according to ideas which the architect, Jlr. W. Gray Young, gathered from viewing synagogues during a tour ajjroad, and will be completely ■ modern, the almemar, for instance, having been shifted from the centre of the temple to one end. It isr expected that the contractor, Mr. E. S. Knight, will have the building finished, by about August. The estimated cost i» about £11,000. ''..■.: