Chicago Loop Synagogue
- Architect
- Loebl Schlossman & Hackl
- Year
- 1958
- Style
- Mid-Century Modern
- City
- Chicago, IL
The Chicago Loop Synagogue at 16 South Clark Street is an Orthodox congregation founded in 1929 by the United Synagogue of America to give Jewish professionals working downtown a place to pray and eat kosher food during the business day. The current building, designed by Loebl, Schlossman & Bennett and completed in 1958, replaced an earlier synagogue on the same block that had been destroyed by fire.
the building
Let There Be Light. The synagogue's entire eastern wall is filled by Abraham Rattner's stained-glass work Let There Be Light, a 30-by-40-foot composition and the building's best-known feature.
Hands of Peace. Over the entrance doors is Hands of Peace, a sculpture by Nehemia Azaz depicting priestly hands raised in blessing, the gesture of the traditional Priestly Blessing.
the style
Mid-Century Modern (c. 1945–1970): Post-and-beam houses with walls of glass, flat or butterfly roofs, and easy flow between indoors and out.
More on Mid-Century Modernthe architect
The synagogue was designed by the Chicago firm Loebl, Schlossman & Bennett, which also designed the Richard J. Daley Center, one of the city's best-known civic buildings.
significance
After the COVID-19 pandemic drew office workers out of downtown Chicago, the synagogue faced concern that it would be unable to sustain its operating costs without the weekday population it was built to serve.
nearby
- Central YMCA Headquarters
- Roanoke Building and Tower
- 19 South LaSalle Street
- New York Life Insurance Building, Chicago
- One North LaSalle Building
- Chicago Stock Exchange Building