Driving along what’s known colloquially by some folks as “Shul Row” on Park Heights Avenue, many of us in our daily haste take for granted the wondrous architectural styles of our local synagogues.
In honor of the festival of Chanukah, the preservation group Baltimore Heritage recently devoted one of its popular “Five Minute Histories” segments to the modernist-style synagogues of Northwest Baltimore. The idea for the segment was suggested and researched by Dr. Isabelle Gournay, an architectural historian at the University of Maryland, College Park.
The featured facilities include Baltimore Hebrew Congregation at 7401 Park Heights Avenue, Beth El Congregation at 8101 Park Heights Avenue, Beth Tfiloh Congregation at 3300 Old Court Road, Chizuk Amuno Congregation at 8100 Stevenson Road, and Har Sinai-Oheb Shalom Congregation at 7301 Park Heights Avenue.
The latter building, which opened in September of 1960, was designed by architect Sheldon I. Leavitt in consultation with famed German-American architect and Bauhaus School founder Walter Gropius, a pioneer of the modernist movement.
After offering a concise lesson in the northwestern migration of Baltimore Jewry, Johns Hopkins, executive director of Baltimore Heritage, spoke of the growth of modernist architecture in post-war America. Modernist architecture is defined as the movement in the aftermath of World War II that embraced minimalism and functionalism, particularly through the usage of glass, steel and reinforced concrete.
For information about Baltimore Heritage, visit baltimoreheritage.org.
'It's Classic!" featured rock climbing, food, live entertainment and more.
A Norfolk native, Frankle worked at Sinai Hospital, Camp Airy and privately for five decades.
Esther Greenberg, Leora Match, Kathlleen St. Villier Hill and Ben Gershowitz will be recognized for the contributions to the community.
For more than five decades, Dr. Rosenstein was known by local families as a trusted and caring physician for their children.