Beth Israel is a Reform congregation and Jewish synagogue in Portland, Oregon, United States. The congregation was founded in 1858, while Oregon was still a territory, and built its first synagogue in 1859.
The congregation's first building was a modest, single story, pitched-roof, wood-framed, clapboard building with Gothic, pointed-arch windows and door.
This early structure was replaced by an 1888 synagogue building, which was destroyed by fir...
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Beth Israel is a Reform congregation and Jewish synagogue in Portland, Oregon, United States. The congregation was founded in 1858, while Oregon was still a territory, and built its first synagogue in 1859.
The congregation's first building was a modest, single story, pitched-roof, wood-framed, clapboard building with Gothic, pointed-arch windows and door.
This early structure was replaced by an 1888 synagogue building, which was destroyed by fire in December 1923. The building, called Moorish revival in some sources, is elsewhere described as a combination of eclectic and Gothic revival styles, with two towers topped by bulbous domes.
It was replaced in 1928 by a notable Neo-Byzantine synagogue building that continues to serve the congregation. It was listed as Temple Beth Israel on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. It is considered one of the finest examples of Byzantine-style architecture on the west coast, and was inspired by the Alte Synagoge (Steelerstrasse...
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