25 Beach Road, Synagogue

A purpose-built synagogue on the site of a house at 14 Ogle Terrace. The plot had been bought in 1914 but the house was not cleared until 1932. The original architect for the synagogue was Marcus Kenneth Glass of Newcastle. When he died in 1932, J.A. Page & Son took over. The building is of plain red brick with the entrance under a gable at the western end. It closed in 1994 and was converted into the South Tyneside Arts Studio. The foundation stones of the synagogue are just legible. Much of the original decorative glass has been removed except for a sunburst Star of David window in the Ark wall. The Luhot (Tablets of the Law, double-headed stone bearing an abbreviated form of the Ten Commandments) remain on the gable. Inside the iron column supports with palmette capitals survive. LOCAL LIST