{"nrhp_refnum":"84001658","name":"Old Bnai Zion Synagogue","other_names":["Sunset Palace"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"906 N. El Paso St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"El Paso","county":"El Paso County","state":"TX","lat":31.76044853700006,"lon":-106.48987275899998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1984-08-16","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Religion"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A red-brick synagogue at 906 North El Paso Street in El Paso, Texas, completed in 1912 and now known as the Sunset Palace. It sits at the western edge of the Sunset Heights neighborhood.","why_significant":"It was home to El Paso's first Jewish congregation, Bnai Zion, from 1912 to 1927, and later to St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church. It is described as perhaps the earliest surviving synagogue in Trans-Pecos Texas. Its hybrid Greek Revival/Gothic Revival design is unusual for early 20th-century West Texas.","narrative":"Built in 1912 at 906 North El Paso Street, this red-brick synagogue was the first home of El Paso's Orthodox Jewish Congregation Bnai Zion, chartered in 1900. Its design is unusual: a Greek Revival portico with four Tuscan-Doric columns and a shingled pediment is combined with Gothic Revival pointed-arch transoms and an ogee-arched door. The nomination notes this mixture was common on the Eastern Seaboard in the early 19th century but unexpected in far West Texas in 1912. The congregation sold the building in 1927 and moved. It then served St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, El Paso's first Eastern Orthodox church, and later became a boxing gym and a rented meeting space. Restored and converted in the early 1980s, it now operates as the Sunset Palace dance studio and cultural center. It is regarded as perhaps the earliest surviving synagogue in the Trans-Pecos region of Texas.","period_of_significance":"1912","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Hybrid Greek Revival/Gothic Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"Occupied; adapted as a dance studio and cultural center, with a modern apartment in the basement. The form notes the building is threatened by expansion of nearby El Paso Community College, whose parking lots surround it.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:21.149937-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/81/9718/40971881/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/84001658.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84001658/396ece4a4b-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84001658/396ece4a4b-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Rogelio Rivero Cagigas","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Old_Bnai_Zion_Synagogue_03.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Rogelio Rivero Cagigas</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:Old_Bnai_Zion_Synagogue_03.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40971881","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Bnai_Zion_Synagogue","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7083496"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/el-paso-county/old-bnai-zion-synagogue-84001658/"}