Samuel Gruber's Jewish Art & Monuments
News, articles and information about Jewish art, architecture, and historic sites. This blog includes material to be posted on the website of the International Survey of Jewish Monuments (www.isjm.org).
Introducing Adolph Fleischman (Mostly Forgotten): A Successful Member of America's First Generation of Jewish Homegrown Architects
Albany, NY. Former Temple Beth Emeth. Wilborn Temple First Church of God in Christ since 1957. Adolph Fleischman, arch (with Isaac Perry)., 1887-89.
Kingston, New York. Temple Emanuel. Adolph Fleischman, architect.
Albany, NY. School No. 5 Adolph Fleischman, arch., 1883.
Samuel D. Gruber
I sometimes find myself rebutting the claim that Jews didn't enter American architecture in large numbers until recently - this because so many well known contemporary star architects are Jewish while the names and works of the predecessors who laid the path are mostly forgotten even when their buildings remain in use and in plain site.
The truth about American Jewish architects is somewhat different - there were scores of active Jewish architects in cities across the country (New York City, Hartford, Albany, Rochester, Newark, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Chicago, Detroit, Louisville, St. Louis, Atlanta, Charleston, etc.) from the late 19th century through World War II.
Its just that only a small number of these were even in their day architectural "stars". We might give that designation to Leopold Eidlitz, Henry Fernbach, Arnold Brunner, Dankmar Adler, Albert Kahn, Jacques Eli Kahn and few others. Most Jewish architects, however, were not much written about in their lifetimes, or since. Even those "stars" - mostly working in traditional historicist styles - were largely forgotten with the advent of modernism when new Jewish architects rose to prominence (Alfred Alschuler, Richard Neutra, Raphael Soriano, Marcel Breuer, Erich Mendelsohn, Louis Kahn, Percival Goodman, Max Abramovitz, Gordon Bunschaft, Bertrand Goldberg, Sidney Eisenshtat, Ira Rakatansky, and many others).
I've not found a photo a Adolph Fleischman but here are some of his Jewish contemporaries: Leopold Eidlitz, Arnold W. Brunner, Dankmar Adler, Alfred F. Rosenheim, Albert Kahn, and William M. Levi.
Most American Jewish architects found it hard to break into mainstream high end architecture until after World War I. and even more after world War II. That meant they did not design the fancy houses, country clubs, art galleries and other high-budget commissions so often published in the early architectural press. There are many exceptions, especially when there were Jewish patrons and clients. Overall, Jewish architects still did very well working in the wide field of urban commercial architecture. They designed and built (often as developers, too) thousands of urban housing units, often as apartment buildings and many other kinds of structures.
Jewish architects most often served Jewish clients and donors building movie theaters, department stores, factories, hospitals and, of course, synagogues. Several Jewish architects built schools and other public buildings. A few very successful architects, like Arnold W. Brunner (1857-1925), did all of the above, and also became a leading city planner. Brunner was one of a small group of Jewish architects who was able to take his place not just as a Jewish architect, but as a leading American architect.
Another example of an early American Jewish architect with a successful career is Adolph Fleischman, an Albany, New York-based architect and contemporary of Brunner, who was active in the late 19th and early 20th century, Fleischman was one of the first successful American-born Jewish architects. Like a few others he was a graduate of an early prestigious university architecture program.
Kingston, New York. Temple Emanuel. Adolph Fleischman, arch. Photo: Tony Adamis, 2014.
In 1871 Andrew Dickson White, the first president of Cornell University, pushed to found a program in architecture, leading to the first four-year course in the profession in an American university. By 1879 Cornell University graduated two Jewish architects out of a class of four. Adolph Fleischman and Albert Buchman (1859-1936) both earned bachelors degrees in architecture that year.Fleishman's dissertation, still in the Cornell library, was "The Progress of Civilization as Shown in Architecture." (1879).
Fleischman was elected an Associate of the A.I.A. in 1884. He went on to become a prominent architect in Albany, New York and designed the synagogue for his own congregation Anshe Emeth (1887-89). Fleishman was active in Bnai Brith and was District-Deputy of Zephaniah Lodge, No. 131, at Rondont, N. Y. (now part of Kingston, NY) where he designed and built Temple Emanuel at Rondout. In 2014 the former synagogue was converted into seven apartments. How good an architect was he? It's difficult to say until we compile a more complete lsit of his buildings. We know he was competant, but his syangogues designs were hardly original.
Kingston, New York. Temple Emanuel. Adolph Fleischman, arch. Now apartments.
His career is recorded in the American Jewish Yearbook, Vol 6, page 92, in 1904:
Fleischman Adolph. Architect. Born December 7 1856, Albany, New York. Son of Solomon Fleischman and Catherine Lederer. Educated in Albany public and high schools. Arch B 1879 Cornell University Married Rosetta A Mann Fellow American Institute of Architects 1884 District Deputy Independent Order B District No 1 superintendent Sunday School Council of Jewish Women past president Gideon Lodge Independent Order B Synagogue Albany and synagogues in Troy and Rondout New York. Office 59 and 61 North Pearl Residence 277 Hudson Av Albany
Fleischman's obituary appeared in The Cornell Alumni News, Volume 16 (1914).
His career and work needs to be further researched, including the compilation of a list of buildings and clients. Fleischman is but one of scores of American Jewish architects the International Survey of Jewish Monuments plans to include in an on-line biographical directory of American Jewish and synagogue Architects. For a partial list see here.
Posted by Samuel Gruber at 10:07 AM
Bernice said...
Another Jewish architect you might like to add to your list is Houston architect Joseph Finger, who designed Houston's City Hall (1939), Beth Israel and Beth Yeshurun synagogues, hotels, department stores and other commercial buildings, and private homes. The wiki entry includes an extensive list of the buildings he designed. Finger was innovative, introducing elements of modern architecture to Houston.
Samuel Gruber said...
Bernice, yes, Joseph Finger was an important Austrian-Jewish-Amercian-Texan architect. He is on our list of architects born before 1900 an cetainly merits a good bio entry. There was good article about his career in the Houston History Magazine a few years ago - we attach a link to the pdf, and there is a pretty extensive lsit of his buildings on Wikipedia.
http://houstonhistorymagazine.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/jospeh-finger.pdf
Next time I get to Houston I'll try to tour his buildings - including the old Beth Israel (now the Heinen Theater of Houston Community College)and the Temple of Rest.
Thanks for reading my posts!
-- Sam Gruber
This blog provides news and opinion articles about Jewish art, architecture and historic sites - especially those where something new is happening. Developed in connection with news gathering for the International Survey of Jewish Monuments website (www.isjm.org), this blog highlights some of the most interesting Jewish sites around the world, and the most pressing issues affecting them.
Samuel Gruber
My Lectures & Presentations
I am available for public lectures and presentations as well as private tours and consulting. To learn more click here.
Recent and upcoming talks, lectures and tours:
"Tent, Tabernacle, Synagogues: A Modern take on an Ancient Form," Paper to be presented at European Association of Jewish Studies, Krakow, Poland (July 18, 2018)
"Arnold W. Brunner (1857-1925) and the First Generation of American-born Jewish Architects."
at conference "Jewish Architects - Jewish Architecture?" Hamburg, Germany (November 2018)
Stained Glass: The Neumann Chapel at Keneseth Isra...
The Kasejovice (Czech Republic) Jewish Cemetery: ...
Syracuse, NY: The First Synagogue Buildings of Tem...
Introducing Adolph Fleischman (Mostly Forgotten): ...
Czech Republic: A Visit to the Kasejovice Synagogu...
USA: Montefiore Synagogue in Lowell, Massachusetts...
Links to Sam Gruber Jewish Heritage articles
A 94-Foot Retelling of Jewish History
A Birthday Celebration for Curacao's Historic Synagogue
A Sukkah Bound for New York
Arnold W. Brunner and the New Classical Synagogue in America
At Syracuse University, Undulating Walls Commemorate Vanishing Barriers
Built Judaism: How Synagogue Photography Opens Worlds
Century-old Mural's Hidden History in Vermont
Jews on the Altar: MOBIA Exhibition Examines Images on Spanish Altarpieces
Obituary for a Modern Building
Original Intent: A student sukkah project harks back to architecture's dawn
Paned Expressions Though a bit tarnished, the Abstract Expressionist windows at Brooklyn's Kingsway Jewish Center still glimmer
Polish Influence on American synagogue architecture
Preservation of Jewish Heritage: Past, Present, Future, (Video of Conference Keynote Address)
Rediscovering Modern Synagogues Before it is Too Late
Rescuing Drohobych One Man's Quest To Memorialize A Vital Jewish Center of Oil and Art
Restoring a Landmark Synagogue: If You Rebuild It, Will They Come?
Sacred Space Louis Kahn and the architecture of quiet reverence
Shirley Moskowitz: A Life in Art (1995)
Sidney Eisenshtat, 90, Leading Synagogue Architect – Forward.com
Silenced Sacred Spaces: Selected Photographs of Syrian Synagogues by Robert Lyons (1996)
Synagogues in the Garden
The Blueprint: How a 1959 book changed the architecture of American synagogues
The Choices We Make: Eldridge Street Synagogue and Historic Preservation
The Continuing Exodus: The Synagogue and Jewish Urban Migration
The Rabbi's Son Who Built Detroit The Other Kahn: Architect
Links to Sam Gruber books
American Synagogues: A Century of Architecture and Jewish Community (Rizzoli 2003)
Ebrei Piemontese: The Jews of Piedmont (contributor 2008)
Jewish Identity and Contemporary Architecture (Prestel 2004)
Synagogues (Metrobooks 1999)
Links to Sam Gruber reports
Historic Jewish Sites in Romania, 2010
Historic Jewish Sites in Romania, Illustrations, 2010
Historic and Cultural Heritage Sites of the Old Believers in Lithuania
Jewish Cemeteries, Synagogues, and Mass Grave Sites in Ukraine, 2005
Jewish Cemeteries, Synagogues, and Monuments in Slovenia, 2006
Jewish Heritage Sites and Monuments in Moldova, 2010
Jewish Heritage Sites of Bosnia-Herzegovina, 2011
Jewish Monuments and Sites in Bulgaria, Part 2, 2012
Jewish Monuments and Sites in Bulgaria, Part I, 2012
Roma Historical and Cultural Sites in Poland
Selected Muslim Monuments and Historic Sites in Bulgaria
Sites Associated with the Lives and Deeds of Foreign-born Heroes of the American Revolution, 2002
Survey of Historic Jewish Monuments in Poland, 2nd revised edition, 1995
Survey of Historic Jewish Monuments in the Czech Republic, 1994
Alemannia Judaica - Arbeitsgemeinschaft zur Erforschung der juedischen Geschichte
Association of European Jewish Museums
Cape Verde Jewish Heritage Project, Inc.
Descendants and Carol Slideshow
Council of American Jewish Museums
Czech Heritage Action Initiative
Fundacja Ochrony Dziedzictwa Żydowskiego
International Jewish Cemetery Project
BRANDFORT
Jewish Graveyard Rabbit
Felice Nel Box + Save the Synagogue! Project
Jewish Heritage Europe - Home Page
Jewish Heritage Research Group in Belarus
Jewish Heritage Travel
New Publication -- Jewish Cemeteries and Tourism
Jewish Historical Institute, Warsaw
Jewish Trails - Anglo-Jewish History - JTrails.org.uk
Judaica Europeana
Jüdisches Leben Erfurt | Jüdisches Leben
Lower East Side Jewish Conservancy
Maceva (Lithuaniian Jewish Cemeteries)
National Yiddish Book Center Blog
Final Approach
Patronat Call de Girona | Museum of Jewish History | Nahmanides Institute for Jewish Studies
SYNAGOGA SLOVACA: Documentation Project of Synagogue Architecture in Slovakia
The International Survey of Jewish Monuments > Home
The Synagogues of Kerala
Tracing the Tribe: The Jewish Genealogy Blog
Tracing the Tribe is now on Facebook!!!
U.S. Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad > Home
Virtual Shtetl
Photo Sites
Bronx (NY) Synagogue Survey
Elissa Sampson's Photos of Lower East Side Synagogues & more
Former Chicago Synagogues
Judaica by Zbigniew Kosc
Lost Synagogues of Detroit
portal POLIN – Polish Jews Heritage
Stars of David around the world (Jewish stars)
Synagogues of the World - Very Varied
Synagogues360
Historic US Synagogues
Adas Israel Synagogue, Washington, Dc (1876)
B'nai Abraham, Virginia, Minnesota (1909)
Beth Ahabah, Richmond, Virginia (1904)
Beth Sholom, Elkins Park, PA
Bialystoker Synagogue, New York
Central Synagogue, NY (1872)
Chevra T'helim Synagogue & Museum, Portsmouth, Virginia
Cong. Tifereth Israel, Queens, NY (1911)
Isaac M. Wise (Plum St.) Temple, Cincinnati (1866)
Kehllia Kedosha Janina, New York (1927)
KK Beth Elomin, Charleston
Lloyd Street Syn, Baltimore (1845 ff)
Queens (NY) Jewish Heritage Trail
Sixth & I Historic Synagogue (former Adas Israel), D.C.
Stanton Street Shul, NYC, NY (1913)
Stone Ave. Temple, Tucson, AZ (1910)
Temple Beth Israel, Macon, Georgia (1902)
Temple Emanuel, Beaumont, Texas
Temple Sinai, New Orleans (1927)
Virtual Restoration of Smalltown (Texas) Synagogues
Holocaust Memorials and Sites
Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum
Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site
Kazerne Dossin (Mechelen, Belgium)
New England Holocaust Memorial
Encyclopedia of Southern Jewish Communities
Explanation of the Jewish Calendar
Illustrated Architecture Dictionary
Mapping the Jewish Communities of the Byzantine Empire
Reading Hebrew Tombstones
Translations of common Hebrew and Yiddish words in landsmanshaftn and burial society names