Beth Joseph Synagogue

44°13′29″N 74°27′55″W / 44.22472°N 74.46528°W / 44.22472; -74.46528ArchitectureTypeSynagogue architectureStyleItalianateDate establishedc. 1890s (as a congregation)Completed1905MaterialsClapboard; timber frameWebsitebethjosephtupperlake.org Arealess than one acreNRHP reference No.88001441Added to NRHPSeptember 1, 1988 ^[1]

Beth Joseph Synagogue is an Orthodox Jewish congregation and historic synagogue, located in Tupper Lake, Franklin County, New York, in the United States. The synagogue is open only in the summer months; and it houses a small Jewish museum. The congregation has traditionally practiced in the Ashkenazi rite.

History

As a congregation, Beth Joseph was established in the late 1800s by Yiddish–speaking Eastern European Jewish immigrants, including those from Russia and Lithuania, who were peddlers, and wealthy German Jews from New York City, who took summer vacations in the area.^[2] By 1899 the Jewish community acquired land to build a synagogue and in the summer of that year, before construction began, a major fire devastated many of buildings in Tupper Lake. The new synagogue building, completed in 1905, was part of a building resurgence.^[3]

The synagogue building was built in 1906, and is a 2+1⁄2-story, three-bay by five-bay, vernacular Italianate style frame building. It is sheathed in clapboard and has a false front that hides a steep gable roof. The front façade features a "sun dial" arch and rose window, round arched windows, and square corner towers. Also on the property is a contributing 2+1⁄2-story, hip-roofed frame dwelling built between 1906 and 1910.^{[4][5]: 2, 4–5}

Decling membership forced the synagogue to close in 1963,^[3][2] and it was restored and reopened from the mid-1980s, for summer services only.^[3]

It is the oldest congregation in the Adirondack Mountains.

The synagogue building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.^[1]

References

External links

• Official website