35. Former Adath Jeshurun Synagogue

Constructed in 1904, this unique building at 375 King Edward Avenue is the oldest purpose-built synagogue in Ottawa. An excellent example of early synagogue architecture in the Romanesque Revival style, it’s eye catching twin Moorish domes are separated by a parapet featuring a circular window adorned with the Star of David. It is a landmark in Lowertown and remains the last of four synagogues still standing in the area.

Formed in 1892, the former Adath Jeshurun congregation was the first Jewish congregation in Ottawa. By the turn-of-the-century, with the Jewish population at close to 400, a permanent place to worship and gather was needed. A lot was purchased on the east side of King Street (now King Edward Avenue) in 1903 for $2,200.00 and notable Ottawa architect and artist John W.H. Watts was hired to design the synagogue. Born and trained in England, Watts worked for the Chief Dominion Architect at the Department of Public Works in Ottawa and served as the curator of the National Gallery until 1897 when he opened his own practice.

The symmetrical Romanesque Revival style design, built of solid brick, has a large corbelled archway surrounding the entrance that encloses what was originally a pair of double doors. Above the entrance, a row of small arched windows are bracketed by two projecting stair towers capped with Moorish domes. At the time, it was one of only two synagogues in Canada to use this Eastern European model. Although traditionally built of wood, here the domes are of galvanized iron. The interior included a long, barrel-vaulted room and horseshoe-shaped women’s balcony supported by metal columns.

The synagogue’s cornerstone was laid on July 25, 1904 by Aaron Rosenthal. Several pioneer Jewish settlers associated with the congregation included Moses Bilsky, John and Minnie Dover and Aaron and Bertha Rosenthal. John Dover was one of the men who travelled to New York to acquire the city’s first Torah scroll. The synagogue served them and many early Jewish families in Lowertown who gathered to share religious traditions, and who went on to help shape Ottawa’s history.

Over the following years, the building underwent a number of alterations including additions designed by noted Ottawa architects Allan Harwood and Cecil Burgess: an 11-metre rear addition in 1920 and a decorative parapet roofline in 1930 that introduced the circular window with a Star of David motif.

The building served the Jewish community until 1956 when the congregation merged with another to form the Beth Shalom congregation. The synagogue was converted into the Jewish Community Memorial Chapel in 1957 and was the site of all Jewish funerals for the next 40 years. It was sold to the Ontario Conference of the Seventh Day Adventists for a French-speaking congregation’s use in 1999.

The building’s designation under Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act in 2016 was widely supported by the Jewish community and the building remembered as “a fixture” and “a place of gathering…where people memorialized and commemorated.”

Sources

1. As quoted in “Former synagogue in Lowertown closer to heritage status…,” Ottawa Citizen, April 22, 2016.

City of Ottawa, “Report to the Built Heritage Sub-Committee, Planning Committee and Council,” March 22, 2016

Hagit Hadaya. In Search of Sacred Space: Synagogue Architecture in Ottawa. Ottawa: Cielo Print Inc., 2013