House of Peace Synagogue

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House of Peace Synagogue in Columbia, SC

The House of Peace Synagogue is a former synagogue of the Beth Shalom Congregation in Columbia , South Carolina in the United States. This was originally located at 1318 Park Street. After the Jewish community changed its seat, the building was used as the Big Apple Club . It was an African American nightclub . On August 28, 1979, the structure was added to the National Register of Historic Places . In the early 1980s, the building was relocated to its current location on the southeast corner of Hampton and Park Streets. It was purchased by the Historic Columbia Foundation in 1993 and has been referred to as the Big Apple ever since .

history

The first Jewish community in Columbia was called Sharit Israel and had its synagogue on Assembly Street. This building was destroyed in the Columbia Fire during the Civil War. The Jewish community took care of itself after the war until, towards the end of the century, more Eastern European Jews began arriving. In 1896 the Reform Tree of Life Synagogue was built. Due to religious differences, the Orthodox Jews of Columbia split off and from 1907 they met in a house on the corner of Park and Lady Street. The community was officially recognized in 1912. This synagogue burned down in 1915 and a new building was built on the site. At the end of the 1920s, the synagogue became too small for the community, so in early 1935 they started using their third synagogue at 1719 Marion Street. Today the community has its synagogue at 5827 North Trenholm Road.

The abandoned synagogue on Park Street was then used as a nightclub frequented by African Americans. The Big Apple Club gave its name to a fashion dance that originated there and was watched from the balcony by white students at the University of South Carolina . Eventually the dance ended up in the Roxy Club in New York City in 1937 . From there, the Big Apple expanded and for a short time became modern across the country.

After being used as a night club, the building had several other uses. Prior to its entry on the National Register of Historic Places, it served a company that dealt with heating and air conditioning. In the early 1980s, it was relocated almost two blocks down Park Street and has been on the corner with Hampton Street ever since. In 1993 it was bought by the Historic Columbia Foundation, which restored it and also rents it out for events.

architecture

The building is a two-story, wooden structure with a gable roof made of sheet metal. In its original location on Park Street, it stood on a raised brick foundation. Erected for a community that consisted mostly of Polish and Russian immigrants, it is an example of Eastern Jewish architecture.

The entrance to the building is inside the projecting central yoke . The door is flanked by wooden pilasters , side and skylights with stained glass lie under a large arch. On either side of the arch are a pair of tall, narrow stained glass windows with horseshoe-shaped arches. There are five such windows on each side of the building, some of which have been modified.

The central dome inside was equipped with neon lights in the shape of a crescent moon and falling stars during the building's time as the Big Apple Club. At the front of the building there is a balcony inside which, when it was a night club, served as a viewing gallery for visitors.

supporting documents

  1. ↑ a b c d House of Peace Synagogue ( English , PDF; 100 kB) In: National Register of Historic Places Inventory - Nomination Form . National Park Service. Retrieved July 10, 2010.
  2. ↑ National Register Information System ( English ) In: National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. March 13, 2009. Retrieved July 10, 2010.
  3. ^ House of Peace Synagogue, Richland County (Hampton & Park Sts., Columbia) ( English ) In: National Register Properties in South Carolina . South Carolina Department of Archives and History. Retrieved July 10, 2010.
  4. ↑ a b c d e Russell Maxey, Historic Columbia Foundation: South Carolina's Historic Columbia, Yesterday and Today in Photographs ( English ). RL Bryan Company, Columbia, South Carolina 1980, ISBN 0934870020 , pp. 214-215.
  5. ↑ a b History ( English ) In: The Big Apple . Historic Columbia Foundation. Archived from the original on March 26, 2009. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved July 10, 2010. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.historiccolumbia.org
  6. ↑ a b c History of Beth Shalom, Columbia, SC ( English ) In: Historical SC Sites . Jewish Historical Society of South Carolina. Archived from the original on July 5, 2009. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved July 10, 2010. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.jhssc.org
  7. ^ Walter Edgar, The Humanities Council SC : South Carolina Encyclopedia ( English ). University of South Carolina Press, Columbia, South Carolina 2006, ISBN 1-57003-598-9 , pp. 71-72.

Coordinates: 34 ° 0 ′ 15 ″  N , 81 ° 2 ′ 18 ″  W.