Beth Israel Synagogue
National Register Listing
Street Address:
307 Townes Street, Greenville, SC (Greenville County)
NRHP Nomination Form
Record Number:
S10817723080
Description and Narrative:
The Beth Israel Synagogue, located in the City of Greenville, South Carolina, and associated originally with Orthodox Judaism, is a one-story-over-raised-basement brick-veneered building with cast stone accents that was built 1929-1930. The building is situated on Townes Street in the Stone Avenue neighborhood, which was once a center of Jewish life and culture in Greenville. Roughly seventy-five percent of Greenville's Jewish population lived nearby on East and West Stone Avenue. The Beth Israel Synagogue was listed in the National Register under Criterion A at the local level in the area of religion as an example of a public building representative of Jewish life in a southern city, and under Criterion for C as a notable example of Classical Revival public architecture designed by well-known local architect Joseph G. Cunningham. The building, which was last used as a synagogue in 1957, at which time the congregation moved to a larger building, has since undergone many subsequent uses including as a Pentecostal church, a photography studio, a labor union cooperative, and a storage facility. While Beth Israel has served many different purposes, two inlaid tile Stars of David that flank the pediment high above the front entry serve as a reminder of its original construction as a synagogue. Listed in the National Register May 23, 2016.
Period of Significance:
1929 – 1957
Level of Significance:
Local
Area of Significance:
Architecture;Religion
National Register Determination:
listed
Date of Certification:
2016-05-23
Date of Boundary Increase:
No Boundary Increase
Location:
Greenville County
