The London Daily Newsletter Friday 9 June

Great Synagogue of London
The Great Synagogue of London was, for centuries, the centre of Ashkenazi synagogue and Jewish life in London. It was destroyed during World War II, in the Blitz.

The earliest Ashkenazi synagogue constructed in London, after the return of Jews to England in the 17th century, was built about 1690 at Duke’s Place, north of Aldgate. In 1696-7, the synagogue also acquired a burial ground, at Alderney Road. The congregation grew, and in 1722 a new building was erected with the cost of £2,000 being borne by businessman and philanthropist, Moses Hart. The building was consecrated on Rosh Hashana (September 18, 1722). An enlarged building, designed by George Dance the Elder, was consecrated on August 29, 1766. The order of prayers for the inauguration was the first printed publication of the synagogue, and also the first publication to name it explicitly as ’The Great Synagogue’. Between 1788 and 1790, the third synagogue was built on the site. Unusually for the times, the principal donor was a woman, Judith Hart Levy, a daughter of Moses Hart, who subscribed £4,000. The architect was James Spiller. The building was in the classical style identified with John Adam. It was redecorated and repaired in 1832 and 1852 by John Walen, and restored again with small renovations in 1899 and 1930. The Royal Dukes of Cambridge, Cumberland, and Essex, sons of George III, visited the Great Synagogue of London in 1809. There they were seated on elegant Egyptian revival chairs as they watched the religious service. The synagogue was also visited around this period, during his schooldays, by the writer Leigh Hunt, who wrote ’I took pleasure in witnessing the semi-Catholic pomp of their service and in hearing their fine singing, not without something of a constant astonishment at their wearing their hats’. The synagogue was destroyed on May 10, 1941.

TUM Book Club: Tube Mapper Project
Photographer Luke Agbaimoni created the Tube Mapper project allowing him to be creative, fitting photography around his lifestyle and adding stations on his daily commute.

The Underground is the backbone of the city of London, a part of our identity. It’s a network of shared experiences and visual memories, and most Londoners and visitors to the city will at some point have an interaction with the London Underground tube and train network. Photographer Luke Agbaimoni gave up city-scape night photography after the birth of his first child, but creating the Tube Mapper project allowed him to continue being creative, fitting photography around his new lifestyle and adding stations on his daily commute. His memorable photographs consider such themes as symmetry, reflections, tunnels and escalators, as well as simply pointing out and appreciating the way the light falls on a platform in an evening sunset. This book reveals the London every commuter knows in a unique, vibrant and arresting style.

Wartime Nocturne,’ (1943) is one of the finest and most proficient works of Claude Barry’s career. Famed for his wartime searchlight pictures, he created a varied body of work that although it differs in style and theme, always remains imbued with an individual poetic vision.

Claude Barry

Video: Flying into LCY
A simulated flight into LCY courtesy of Google Earth Studio.