Future of Phoenix’s first Orthodox synagogue uncertain

[Source: Deborah Sussman Susser, Jewish News of Greater Phoenix] -- The first Orthodox synagogue in the city still stands at 333 E. Portland St. in downtown Phoenix, but it could very well be gone in a matter of days. While the building’s records are safely stored at the Arizona Jewish Historical Society, the structure itself, designed by architect Max Kaufman and built by Arizona’s Mardian Construction in 1954, is not protected by any kind of historic designation, and the land on which it stands may be in the process of being sold.

Reached September 17, David Hemphill, director of the Black Theater Troupe, which owns the building, said that a “transaction” was taking place, but that he was not at liberty to disclose the details. The BTT received $2.3 million in the city bond election last year, in part to restore the building.

“It is troubling that the bond election was held under one pretext and here we are a year and a half later and it’s all changed,” said Kevin Weight, of the city’s Historic Preservation Office. “Last the public heard, at a city council meeting a few months ago, they were told they were proceeding with plans as part of the bond election. And now it’s changed and nobody knows about it except for the whispers… There ought to at least be more dialogue.”

Click here for October 26, 2007 update in Jewish News of Greater Phoenix.

Building Chronology

1945: French-Jewish survivor named Elias Loewy, “The Jewish Schindler,” is known for his heroic, clandestine rescue of more than 1,500 French Jews from deportation during WWII. Elias’ sons, Max and Fred, were members of the French Resistance. Max was killed just feet from his brother during a battle between 120 partisans and 3,000 German-led troops.

1948: Elias and family arrived in Phoenix, where Elias co-found Beth Hebrew Congregation and established the city’s Jewish Free Loan Society.

1950: Max Jacobsen, one of the founding congregants with the Loewy Family starts fund for new synagogue with a $2,000 donation.

July 1955: From the Arizona Republic, “Structure 55 X 100 feet, follows a contemporary design on its exterior, employing masonry block walls with high windows of translucent corrugated glass just under the roof. The roof, ceiled with acoustic tile, has an insulation layer of fiber glass under the waterproof top surface. There will be a special skylight penthouse over the altar section. The synagogue is divided into a lobby, kitchen sanctuary in the street end of the building, with two utility rooms each side of the platform, and altar at the rear of the sanctuary. At night specially designed recessed lighting ports will provide necessary illumination.”

Architect Max Kaufman, an amateur astronomer, designed the synagogue so that the roof is partially raised, as if a giant hand were lifting the edge of it up and away from the ark-shaped building. According to former congregation members, the quality of light that streamed in through the corrugated glass clerestory windows was extraordinary. The builder, Mardian Construction, was a well-known and important contractor in mid 20th century Phoenix.

1960: Steven Spielberg is Bar Mitzvah’d at Beth Hebrew Congregation. At 13 years old Steven also won a film contest for his 40-minute war movie, “Escape to Nowhere.”

1975: Beth Hebrew Congregation is absorbed into Beth El Congregation on Glendale Ave. 333 E. Portland building is rented out as a church.

1983: The Black Theatre Troupe of Phoenix moves to 333 E. Portland.

1991: With encouragement and support of Mayor Terry Goddard and City Council, 333 E. Portland is rededicated as the BTT’s Helen K. Mason Theater.

2005: BTT applies for $2.3 million in city bond money and $170,000 from the Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust, most of which, according to the troupe’s proposal, would go toward fixing up the building.

2006: According to the BTT’s website, “In March 2006 the voters of Phoenix overwhelmingly approved a sweeping Bond Initiative that designated funds to The Black Theatre Troupe to renovate the Helen K. Mason Center for the Performing Arts. Several community needs will be met by this project including: (1) the reestablishment and expansion of BTT’s programs for youth at risk that emphasize the development of social and artistic skills, cooperation, discipline, self-esteem, and sharing; (2) the provision of performance space for young performers that will also accommodate children’s productions; and (3) the provision of affordable rental space for emerging performing arts groups with Stray Cat Theatre as a resident company. As the leading African American theater company in the four-corner states. This project will allow the Black Theatre Troupe to be the “crowning jewel” of this area of downtown and a shining example of diversity in the fifth largest city in the U.S. When completed, this $2.5M project will be unique in the City of Phoenix in that it will again provide a safe and nurturing artistic environment…”

August 2006: Fred Loewy (Elias’s son) dies.

2007: Without contacting the City of Phoenix Bond Committee representatives or Phoenix Arts and Culture Commission, BTT’s Board of Directors decides that the space is insufficient in size. The BTT Board and staff elect to sell building to neighboring land assembler.

August 2007: Fred Loewy’s sons donate all his papers, including a box full of material relating to Beth Hebrew Congregation, to the Arizona Jewish Historical Society. Fred kept everything to do with the synagogue, from early congregation documents written in Yiddish to the name of the building’s architect, to photographs of the groundbreaking. Jewish News of Greater Phoenix editor Leisah Woldoff writes a story about the synagogue’s history as revealed by Fred’s papers.
September 2007: After story appears in the Jewish News of Greater Phoenix about the BTT’s change of plans, text about the adaptive re-use of the building is removed from BTT website.

October 2007: Deborah Sussman Susser, editor of Jewish News of Greater Phoenix, contacts Michael Levine, a local developer with extensive experience in adaptive re-use of historic/vintage structures, including the Southwest Cotton Company Building in Phoenix (recipient of the 2007 Governor’s Heritage Preservation Grand Award) and a synagogue in Kisvarda, Hungary. Levine assesses the building and says it’s structurally sound with many of the original details in excellent condition; “it’s unique and has great bones.” According to officials with the State Historic Preservation Office and City of Phoenix Historic Preservation Office, “with the new archival information that’s recently come to light, the building is very likely eligible” for designation on local, state, and national historic registries.

What you can do? You are welcome to express your opinion about this matter to:

• The Honorable Phil Gordon, Mayor of Phoenix ~ 602-262-7111
• The Honorable Michael Johnson, Member of Council for the district in which the structure is located ~ 602-262-7493
• The Honorable Tom Simplot, Member of Council and chair of the Council’s committee overseeing historic preservation ~ (602) 262-7447
• Cynthia Seelhammer, Deputy City Manager ~ 602-262-6941
• Barbara Stocklin, Historic Preservation Officer ~ 602-262-7468
• Evans Churchill Community Association, 602-614-8727

Students' film tells Phoenix synagogue's history

[Source: Rebecca I. Allen, Arizona Republic] -- Raul Bencomo has lived in central Phoenix all his 13 years and until working on a historical documentary he never knew a building on Culver St. was the Valley's first synagogue. "I thought it was an old abandoned house, until I got involved," Bencomo said. He was among 10 eighth-graders from Kenilworth Elementary School in Phoenix who spent the last three months making a documentary about the Culver St. Synagogue that has housed three denominations since 1922. They learned about the diverse cultures in their own community and hope their efforts make an impression on the world. "Three religions all prayed under the same roof," said Daniella Gallegos, 13. "Diversity is important. It's not only your culture, it's many others."

The Arizona Jewish Historical Society will unveil the film, and four cornerstone plaques commemorating the building's history, on Wednesday. The 10-minute film will air on know99 Television, available in Phoenix, Tempe and Glendale, at a yet-to-be-determined date. The historical society got a $10,000 grant from the History Channel's Save Our History program for the project. They opted to partner with Kenilworth, which opened in 1920, because of its close ties to past congregations. The synagogue, once home to Congregation Beth Israel (then Temple Beth Israel), also housed the area's first Chinese Baptist church and a Mexican Baptist church.

The historical society started a fund-raising campaign eight month ago to raise $4 million to renovate the synagogue, now called the Cutler Plotkin Jewish Heritage Center, and surrounding cottages into a museum, archive and educational center. So far it has raised $1.6 million above the $540,000 it spent to purchase the property in 2002. The society has applied for historical designations from both Phoenix and the State Historic Preservation Office. Lawrence Bell, the society's executive director, said it plans to start the renovation in 2007 and it will take two to three years to complete. "It would be very hard for somebody to watch the video and not appreciate the value of what we're doing to restore the building," Bell said.

Since 2003, Save Our History has given $250,000 a year in grants for local history projects. This year, students around the country have used the money to take unique approaches in preserving their local history, such as: replanting an 18th century orchard in Baltimore; re-creating the infamous 1865 theft of North Carolina's copy of the Bill of Rights in Raleigh; and discovering traces of segregation on a walking tour of a Miami neighborhood. "It's exciting to see how working on local history, being a researcher or videographer, makes history come alive for kids," said Mark Aronson, author and Save Our History spokesperson. "History isn't just memorizing, it's not an abstract test, but really learning who you are and where you come from."

[Note: To read the full article, click here. Photo of 1926 Seder celebration courtesy of Arizona Jewish Historical Society.]

State grant helps restore Phoenix's first synagogue

[Source: Beth Shapiro, Jewish News] -- The Arizona Jewish Historical Society will receive a $150,000 grant from the Arizona State Parks Board to renovate Phoenix's first synagogue, according to Lawrence Bell, AJHS executive director. The synagogue renovation is part of a $4 million campaign to restore the site, now known as the CutlerAPlotkin Jewish Heritage Center, as an educational center, a Jewish history museum, an archive, AJHS offices and a venue for community events. Located at 122 E. Culver St. in Phoenix's cultural corridor adjacent to the Burton Barr Phoenix Public Library, the facility housed Congregation Beth Israel from 1922 until 1949, when it was purchased by a Chinese Baptist church. Later, it was sold to Iglesia Bautista, a Mexican Baptist church. AJHS bought the property in 2002.

According to Vivia Strang, historic preservation grant consultant to the state parks board, the grant is drawn from the state's lottery revenues, which support the state parks' Heritage Fund for wildlife conservation and historic preservation. "It's a competitive grant program, and a great deal of emphasis is placed upon project planning and the public benefit," said Strang. To be eligible, a project has to be more than 50 years old and either on or eligible for the National Register of Historic Places, Strang said. No more than $150,000 can be awarded at one time, but applicants can request more funds for a later phase. Bell told Jewish News that AJHS received the highest rating of all applications for this funding cycle because of the quality of the application and the value and importance of the project to Arizona. "Right now, there is no Jewish site in downtown Phoenix. I think our site will do a great service for the community by providing a Jewish location in the heart of downtown and a place for people of all different backgrounds to come and visit and connect with our community. It will educate non-Jews about who we are and what we've done and how we've contributed to the state and to this country."

[Note: To read the full article, click here. Photo: Concept drawing of CutlerAPlotkin Jewish Heritage Center.]

From across the pond, support for Phoenix synagogue

From across the Atlantic Ocean -- DoCoMoMo in France and Jewish Heritage UK in Britain -- come these letters of support for the preservation of the former Beth Hebree synagogue at 333 E. Portland in downtown Phoenix.

Take an animated tour of threatened Phoenix synagogue

In an October, 2007 Arizona Preservation Foundation "Action Alert," the potential demolition of Phoenix's first Orthodox synagogue was communicated to APF members and friends. The structure, located at 333 E. Portland St., was designed by architect Max Kaufman and built by Arizona’s Mardian Construction in 1954. It's not protected by any kind of historic designation, and the land on which it stands may be in the process of being sold. Local developer Michael Levine hopes to save the building. He put together this "rough" model animation of what the building could look like restored.

Historic downtown Tucson building restored

[Source: Eileen Warshaw] -- The Jewish Heritage Center, the first synagogue in Arizona, will host a celebration on Sunday afternoon, October 21, 2007 to dedicate the new stained glass windows and ark doors and to celebrate the completion of the historic restoration of the original 1910 building. The celebration will also include the burning of the restoration mortgage. The historic building is located at 564 S. Stone Avenue and was opened on October 3, 1910. Noted Tucson families, including the Mansfelds, Steinfelds, and Drachmans were part of the original congregation Temple Emanu-El, which occupied the structure until 1949.

From 1949 to 1995 the building housed a succession of various churches, a radio station and a little theatre. The building became part of the national landmark district Barrio Libre in 1983. In 1995 the non-profit Stone Avenue Temple Project purchased the building and started the much needed restoration. In 2005 the Jewish Historical Society of Southern Arizona merged with the Stone Avenue Temple Project to form The Jewish Heritage Center. The mission of the Jewish Heritage Center is the collection, preservation and teaching of the early Jewish experience in the American Southwest and the preservation of the first synagogue building in the Arizona Territory. The 2 p.m. event will feature the noted Jewish historian and author Harriet Rochlin of Los Angeles.