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INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON 23-25 Sylvia Street <br /> MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. <br /> 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 <br /> Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. <br /> If checked,you must attach a completed National Register Criteria Statement form. <br /> ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION: <br /> Describe architectural features. Evaluate the characteristics of this building in terms of other buildings within the community. <br /> The building at 23-25 Sylvia Street is Lexington's first synagogue and dates to the early 20th century. The two-story, flat-roofed <br /> structure was originally designed for Jewish worship with the foresight that it could be converted to residential use if the <br /> synagogue didn't flourish. The building is set on a rubble foundation and is sheathed in siding with simple wooden cornerboards <br /> and a bold cornice adorned by dentils and modillions. Centered on the three-bay fagade is a steeply-pitched,pedimented porch, <br /> a single bay wide, supported on either end by a column and pier resting on a concrete base. The main entrance retains an <br /> original wooden door with oval glass. Windows contain double-hung 1/1 sash. The two bays of windows on the facade are <br /> flanked by shutters and are topped by entablature lintels decorated by dentils with the second story windows overlapping the <br /> cornice. The four bays of windows on the side elevations have simple molded surrounds. <br /> HISTORICAL NARRATIVE <br /> Discuss the history of the building. Explain its associations with local(or state)history. Include uses of the building, and the role(s)the <br /> owners/occupants played within the community. <br /> The building at 23-25 Sylvia Street is noteworthy as Lexington's first synagogue. A small group of Jewish families formed the <br /> East Lexington Hebrew congregation in 1911. Initially the congregation met in homes. Soon, land on Sylvia Street was <br /> purchased. Local historian Edwin Worthen indicated that the cornerstone for the building was laid on August 31, 1913 <br /> (Calendar History,p. 110). According to other sources,the "Sylvia Street Shul"held its first service on Passover, 1916. <br /> Initially the temple was Orthodox but changed to a Conservative affiliation prior to 1945. Members came from a number of <br /> towns, especially Lexington,Arlington and Bedford. <br /> In 1955 the Sylvia Street building was sold and the sacred scrolls were transferred to the Arlington-Lexington-Bedford Jewish <br /> Community Center which had been established in a residential structure at 1508 Massachusetts Avenue in Lexington. Since <br /> 1955 the Sylvia Street structure has been residential in use. <br /> BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES <br /> Middlesex South Registry of Deeds, Cambridge,Mass. <br /> Sanborn Insurance Maps. <br /> Temple Emunah website. http://templeemunah.org/higM <br /> Temple Isaiah website. http://www.teMpleisaiah.net <br /> Worthen, Edwin B. Calendar History of Lexington, Massachusetts. <br /> Continuation sheet 1 <br />