{"nrhp_refnum":"82001921","name":"Beth Israel Synagogue","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"238 Columbia St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Cambridge","county":"Middlesex County","state":"MA","lat":42.36916669800007,"lon":-71.09613446799995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1982-04-13","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["European"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A red brick Romanesque-style synagogue at 238 Columbia Street in Cambridgeport, Cambridge, Massachusetts, built in 1901 to a design by architect Nathan Douglass.","why_significant":"It was the city's first synagogue and the first and main one in an area that drew large numbers of Russian Jews beginning in 1900. The reviewer's comments recommend Criterion A for its association with the area's Jewish community. The building is also a representative Brick Romanesque design with corner towers.","narrative":"Built in 1901 on Columbia Street in Cambridgeport, Beth Israel Synagogue was the first synagogue in Cambridge. Architect Nathan Douglass designed the red brick building in a Romanesque manner, with two pyramidal corner towers flanking a slightly projecting gabled center section. The main entrance sits within a low Syrian-arched Romanesque opening, all windows are round-headed, and panel brickwork decorates the facade. Starting in 1900, the Columbia Street area drew many Russian Jews, a number of them relocating from Boston's North and West Ends. Schools, social clubs and synagogues followed, and Beth Israel became the first and main synagogue of the neighborhood. The building was later used as a community center. By 1980 it was vacant, no longer a place of worship, and owned by the Cambridge Redevelopment Authority. Its listing rests on its role in the area's Jewish settlement and on its architecture.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Nathan Douglass","architectural_style":"Brick Romanesque with panel brick decoration","criteria":["A"],"status_note":"Listed as vacant at the time of the form; no longer used as a synagogue and owned by the Cambridge Redevelopment Authority. It later served as a community center.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:53.235916-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/73/7905/63790573/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/82001921.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82001921/fc32dab50d-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82001921/fc32dab50d-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Tim Pierce","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Beth_Israel_Synagogue_Cambridge_MA.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Tim Pierce</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Beth_Israel_Synagogue_Cambridge_MA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63790573","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beth_Israel_Synagogue_(Cambridge,_Massachusetts)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4897534"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/middlesex-county/beth-israel-synagogue-82001921/"}