HomeMy WebLinkAboutsylvia-street_0023 FORM B — BUILDING Assessor's Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
13/30A Boston
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION North
MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Town: Lexington
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Photograph East Lexington
Address: 23-25 Sylvia Street
Historic Name: Temple B'nai Jacob
�- - -- 4 Uses: Present: residential
:$ = Original: synagogue
Date of Construction: 1913
- I Source: Worthen, Calendar History, p. 110.
T # I Style/Form:
r,
Architect/Builder: unknown
Exterior Material:
Foundation: rubble
Wall/Trim: aluminum siding
Topographic or Assessor's Map
Roof: tar& gravel
44 J — V Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
none
4,800 �
Major Alterations(with dates):
1955–conversion to residential use
Date? -siding
I � 3PA
Condition: fair(due to siding)
4,00o Moved: no I x I yes I I Date
ko
Acreage: 0.09 acre
Setting: residential neighborhood above Mass. Ave.
29 y streetcar route, near Arlington town line
,d
Recorded by: Lisa Mausolf
Organization: Lexington Historical Commission
Date(month/year): January 2010
Follow Massachusetts Historical Commission Survey Manual instructions for completing this form.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON 23-25 Sylvia Street
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places.
If checked,you must attach a completed National Register Criteria Statement form.
ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION:
Describe architectural features. Evaluate the characteristics of this building in terms of other buildings within the community.
The building at 23-25 Sylvia Street is Lexington's first synagogue and dates to the early 20th century. The two-story, flat-roofed
structure was originally designed for Jewish worship with the foresight that it could be converted to residential use if the
synagogue didn't flourish. The building is set on a rubble foundation and is sheathed in siding with simple wooden cornerboards
and a bold cornice adorned by dentils and modillions. Centered on the three-bay fagade is a steeply-pitched,pedimented porch,
a single bay wide, supported on either end by a column and pier resting on a concrete base. The main entrance retains an
original wooden door with oval glass. Windows contain double-hung 1/1 sash. The two bays of windows on the facade are
flanked by shutters and are topped by entablature lintels decorated by dentils with the second story windows overlapping the
cornice. The four bays of windows on the side elevations have simple molded surrounds.
HISTORICAL NARRATIVE
Discuss the history of the building. Explain its associations with local(or state)history. Include uses of the building, and the role(s)the
owners/occupants played within the community.
The building at 23-25 Sylvia Street is noteworthy as Lexington's first synagogue. A small group of Jewish families formed the
East Lexington Hebrew congregation in 1911. Initially the congregation met in homes. Soon, land on Sylvia Street was
purchased. Local historian Edwin Worthen indicated that the cornerstone for the building was laid on August 31, 1913
(Calendar History,p. 110). According to other sources,the "Sylvia Street Shul"held its first service on Passover, 1916.
Initially the temple was Orthodox but changed to a Conservative affiliation prior to 1945. Members came from a number of
towns, especially Lexington,Arlington and Bedford.
In 1955 the Sylvia Street building was sold and the sacred scrolls were transferred to the Arlington-Lexington-Bedford Jewish
Community Center which had been established in a residential structure at 1508 Massachusetts Avenue in Lexington. Since
1955 the Sylvia Street structure has been residential in use.
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES
Middlesex South Registry of Deeds, Cambridge,Mass.
Sanborn Insurance Maps.
Temple Emunah website. http://templeemunah.org/higM
Temple Isaiah website. http://www.teMpleisaiah.net
Worthen, Edwin B. Calendar History of Lexington, Massachusetts.
Continuation sheet 1