Touro Synagogue

Peter Harrison

1763

Photograph of exterior of building with semi-circular windows featuring American flag on left and flower garden in front.
The Touro Synagogue in Newport, Rhode Island, is home to the second-oldest congregation in the United States. As Sephardic Jews began emigrating from the Caribbean to colonial America in the seventeenth century, the Jewish population of Newport grew and eventually established the Nephuse Israel Congregation, which later became the Congregation Jeshuat Israel toward the end of the 1600s. By the mid-eighteenth century, the community had acquired sufficient financial support to build a synagogue and began construction in 1759. Designed in the European Palladian style that was popular in colonial architecture, the synagogue was completed in 1763. Later named after Isaac Touro who kept watch over the institution during the American Revolution, the building was designated a National Historic Site in 1946.

Credits

Courtesy Touro Synagogue.

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 6.

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Creator Bio

Peter Harrison

Peter Harrison was a colonial American architect. Born in England, he emigrated in 1740 to Rhode Island, where he and his brother worked as merchants and sea captains. Only a few years later, Harrison returned to England to pursue formal training as an architect. He returned to the American colonies, settled in Newport, Rhode Island, and established himself as an architect. He designed many notable buildings in Rhode Island and Massachusetts and is credited with bringing the Palladian style in architecture to America.

Related Guide

Synagogue Architecture, 1750–1880

Synagogues built in Europe in the age of Emancipation had somewhat contradictory goals. On the one hand, they were to articulate a proud Jewishness, which by definition meant a distinctive style. On the other hand, they wanted to announce that they were deeply embedded in the European cityscape.

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