Plum Street Temple - Cincinnati, Ohio - Synagogues on Waymarking.com

"The Plum Street Temple is important architecturally and to the history of the Reform Judaism in the United States. Beginning in the early 19th century in Germany Reform Judaism was brought to America by immigrants and reached its zenith under Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, Wise became Rabbi at the Plum Street Temple in 1854 and guided that congregation for 53 years. During that period the Synagogue was the leading reform temple in the United States. Rabbi Wise was the first President of the Union of American Hebrew congregations and was the founder of Hebrew Union College.

The congregation was incorporated in 1842 and outgrew an earlier synagogue. In 1863 subscriptions were circulated for a new building and the present site was purchased in 1863 for $35,000. Ground was broken that year. The Civil War halted construction but the cornerstone was laid on May 12, 1865 and the Synagogue opened August 24 of that year. Current news accounts noted "It is in the Byzantine style with two steeples....the building, according to the plan, will be truly grand, both in design and dimensions."! Another booklet notes: "It is an Alhambra temple, with slender pillars and thirteen domes perhaps to correspond to the famous passage in Exodus 34:6,7 with the thirteen attributes of God."

The origins of the congregation were central European and particularly Germany and the architectural style is based on the Romantic movement abroad, documented by Rachel Wischnitzer in Synagogue Architecture in the United States. The search among the Jews for an architectural style that gave them a special identity may be derived from a group of central European monumental designs, Rabbi Isaac Wise identified this Moorish style with Reform Judaism and the Plum Street Temple was the first Moorish Synagogue in the United States. (Temple Emanu-El in New York was demolished in 1927, Central Synagogue in New York is another excellent example of this style)

The architect was James Keys Wilson (1828-1894) who had studied his profession under James Renwick and Martin E. Thompson. Wilson is better known for his buildings in the Gothic Revival style so he must have collaborated directly with Rabbi Wise. This New World "Alhambra" is one of the outstanding examples of the Moorish style." - National Register Nomination Form