Temple Sholom
- Year
- 1928
- Style
- Moorish / Mudéjar
- City
- Chicago, IL
Temple Sholom, a Reform Jewish congregation founded in 1867 and among Chicago's oldest and largest, built its current home at 3480 North Lake Shore Drive starting with an unusual design process: the 1921 commission went to three architecture students at the Armour Institute, working with professional architects Charles Hodgson and Charles Allerton Coolidge. The finished Byzantine and Moorish Revival synagogue, completed in 1928, was executed by the firm Loebl, Schlossman and DeMuth.
the building
Sanctuary that doubles in size. The 1,350-seat sanctuary's western wall was mounted on wheels, so it could roll aside and open the room directly into the adjoining social hall, nearly doubling capacity for large events.
Stained glass by two sculptors. In 1972 Israeli artist Nehemia Azaz created five stained glass windows drawn from Job, Proverbs, Psalms, Ezra, and Nehemiah. In 1996 painter and sculptor Leon Golub designed four windows depicting the life of Joseph — his only stained glass commission.
the style
The building combines Byzantine Revival and Moorish Revival, exotic-revival styles that gave the synagogue a visual identity distinct from Chicago's more common Gothic and Classical churches.
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