Description

LEEDS

SE33NW CHAPELTOWN ROAD
714-1/7/94 (East side)
22/11/91 The Northern School of Contemporary
Dance

GV II

Synagogue, now premises of the Northern School of Contemporary
Dance. 1929-32. By J Stanley Wright of Albion Street, Leeds.
Red/brown brick, stretcher bond, Portland stone entrance
facade, concrete block foundation courses and side door
surrounds, copper domes to roof, wrought-iron grilles.
Rectangular plan, main entrance on west side and narrower
entrances on north and south; a massive domed structure with
lower dome and chimney at east end and small domes above the
west entrance, the tall triple round-arched windows in massive
buttresses rising above the eaves of the central dome.
Front: 9 steps to portico with stone vases and paired columns
with tulip capitals; rear: low flat-roofed offices, extension
added; left return: paired panelled doors, upper panel glazed
and covered by an iron grille, overlight with scrolled iron
grille, flanking foundation stones; right return similar.
Windows boarded but most retain original stained glass with
Star of David motif.
INTERIOR: the entrance area has black and white stone floor
and stairs rising through a double-arched stone screen on left
and right; the main auditorium retains much original seating,
marble surround to recesses for the Ark of the Covenant,
central Star of David with pendant light (?bronze), stone
piers supporting gallery, octagonal heating grilles. Original
seating also in the gallery.
The architect had a military background, possibly serving in
Palestine. His practice moved from Leeds to Boston Spa. The
synagogue was built in the main area of Jewish settlement in
Leeds until the 1960s; it closed in 1985 and some of the
fittings were removed to the new synagogue in Shadwell Lane,
Leeds 17 (not included).
(Freedman, M of Jewish Historical Society: Letter of 8 April
1991).

Listing NGR: SE3082835317

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Northern School of Contemporary Dance at Wikipedia
• Northern School of Contemporary Dance official website
• Wikidata Q15979203

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

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