The history

The Manchester Reform Synagogue was founded in 1856 by '46 individuals and families' who were mostly of German descent and ‘predominantly orthodox in both faith and practice’. Their first shul (synagogue building) was constructed close to that of the Halliwell Street congregation from which they had split. The Reform shul was built at Park Place.

The foundation stone for Park Place was laid in March 1857 and the shul was consecrated just over a year later. The building was revivalist in style and fused Venetian, Romanesque, Gothic and Moorish influences with typically Victorian materials of brick, faience and stone dressings.

The interior was similarly eclectic in style. The shul could hold about 700 worshippers and adopted spatial organisation like Methodist chapel - there was a nave and side aisles and a gallery above.

At this time orthodoxy meant that men worshipped on the ground floor and the gallery was reserved for women. This separation was normal practice in British Reform synagogues and continued until 1939.

On 1stJune 1941, Park Place was completely destroyed by aerial bombing. The only surviving artefacts were one or two items of silver and a Torah scroll which were kept in a safe. Prior to this catastrophic event, the congregation had dwindled, money was in short supply and many of the young men were serving soldiers – the synagogue was in something of a crisis. The appointment of a new Rabbi, Percy Selvin Goldberg, changed the fortunes and the practice of the Reform congregation. Goldberg inherited the practice of conducting services in a mixture of English and Hebrew and encouraged classes for children, supported the social circle and suggested the formation of a ladies guild, all of which were progressive and inclusive and greatly aided the survival of Reform in Manchester.

Worship resumed in central Manchester at Houldsworth Hall in Church House on Deansgate. New scrolls were obtained and prayer books were loaned from the West London congregation. From 1944 the possibility of a new building was discussed by the executive. After one rejection, the Ministry of Works approved an application in November 1946 for the construction of a temporary building on the site of the destroyed shul at Park Place. The temporary building was officially opened in April 1948 and the congregation grew due to increasing conversions to Reform and those marrying into it. The building is remembered fondly by those who used it (please listen to the accounts on our oral histories page

In July 1948 Messers Lister and Wansker informed the rest of the executive that they were in negotiation with the Refuge Assurance to buy a site on Jacksons Row. The building fund was named after Lionel Blundell who was one of the driving forces behind the project in the immediate aftermath of the bombing of Park Place.

Using monies from the War Damage Commission (which by this time was awarding funds for destruction sustained during the 1939-45 conflict) and capital raised from the land value of Park Place, the deal for Jacksons Row was made viable. The architects Cummings and Levy were appointed shortly afterwards. Peter Cummings and Eric Levy were members of the Reform congregation.

Cummings was involved in the design of Appleby Lodge (1939) in Rusholme and was the architect for the Cornerhouse Cinema (1935) and Apollo Theatre (1938) in Ardwick Green.

Plans for the synagogue were developed with the executive and approved by Building Control in July 1950.

The foundation stone for the new shul was laid on 18th May 1952 and followed by a celebratory dinner at the Grand Hotel.

In 1951 a scheme was presented to construct only the lower basement portion of the synagogue, labelled as 'temporary'. There are no records explaining why this scheme was prepared, but it was probably for reasons of finance. It is imaginable that if full funds could not be raised then a sound scheme that could be extended at a later date was seen as viable. The area that became the stage in the community hall is labelled as 'bema' on these drawings.

Full details of the construction were still being negotiated and a series of plans and options were presented to the Town Planning Committee. The final approved version was signed off on 12th August 1952.

Opened in November 1953, the shul was the first completely new building to be erected in Manchester after 1945 and, as such, has an important part to play in the history of the post-war city.

Records show that the structural frame was steel. This was unusual in a war damaged country where most iron and steel had gone into munitions and remained relatively scarce – one reason for the rise of concrete as a building material in the post-war. Buildings and construction materials were under licence until 1954.

The design for the new shul had its orthodoxies, but these were combined with a modern architectural language that perhaps suited the austerity of the time

Formally, the synagogue is a simple affair, largely symmetrical in plan. It is constructed primarily of brick, supplied by the main contractors, Moston Brick and Building Company. The well-known Catholic family firm of Quilligotti supplied the flooring. The stained glass windows, by Lightfoot, are figurative, which is unusual for a Jewish religious building, but reflective of the progressive nature of the Reform congregation. The interior is not ostentatious, but has a refined quality to its décor. Wood panelling exists throughout the shul and is echoed in the construction of the solid pews in the sanctuary, which now show patina from wear over the last 60 years.

The bimah, or bema, (raised area to the front of the sanctuary) has a timber lectern and stands for the menorah. At the rear of the bimah is the ark, where the Torahs are kept. The ark itself is clad in white marble and the doors are cast in brass.

Both the upper and lower lobby and the staircases that connect them are finished largely in Quilligotti tiles, which lends a certain art-deco sense to the spaces. The lower lobby leads to the Alexander Levy Hall, a space for gathering, entertaining, social and educational events with a stage for performances. It too is timber lined and has a parquet floor and backlit illuminated ceiling with retro-futuristic overtones. Smaller rooms with original features flank this space, including the kitchen, which carries the words ‘meat’, and ‘milk’ within the ceramic tiles to denote the separate preparation areas for each.

The total cost of the land and construction was £101,224. The construction costs alone were estimated at £40,000 in the preliminary building control application. They eventually came to £63,402. This series of records, invoices and receipts show some of the payments made during the final phases of the contract.

A further extension, on land to the south acquired in the early 1960s, was also proposed. The recently retired Leonard Cecil Howitt, who had been the City Architect, drew up initial plans. These included a roof top car park with a car lift to take vehicles up! The site remains a surface level car park owned by the synagogue. In 1967 Cardinal Heenan, Archbishop of Westminster, was the first Cardinal ever to speak from the pulpit of a synagogue in Britain. His address concerned growing secularism in society and shared spiritual beliefs between Catholicism and Judaism.

Ever since the arrival of Rabbi Goldberg in 1941, the shul was more than a place of worship. The Reform community put on plays, musicals, concerts, classes, lunches and much more and this continued throughout the life of Jacksons Row.