{"nrhp_refnum":"93000283","name":"Congregation Agudath Shalom","other_names":["Walnut Street Synagogue"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"145 Walnut St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Chelsea","county":"Suffolk County","state":"MA","lat":42.393006136000054,"lon":-71.03764124599996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1993-04-16","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["European","Architecture","Religion"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A three-story Romanesque Revival brick synagogue at 145 Walnut Street, Chelsea, Massachusetts, designed by Chelsea architect Harry Dustin Joll and built in 1908-1909, with a small wood-shingled succah outbuilding.","why_significant":"It is described as apparently the largest Orthodox synagogue of its era in continuous use in New England and reflects the strength of Chelsea's Jewish community after the 1908 fire. It is the largest local work of Harry Dustin Joll and a well-preserved example of Romanesque Revival style. Its intact sanctuary, with carved Arks and a complete set of frescoes, shows eastern European artistic traditions in American architecture.","narrative":"Congregation Agudath Sholom's Walnut Street Synagogue is a large brick Romanesque Revival building on a corner lot in downtown Chelsea, Massachusetts. Harry Dustin Joll designed it in 1908-1909, as the city rebuilt after the Great Fire of 1908. Seven bays long and three stories high, it has a slate roof and a triple-entry facade flanked by two square towers topped with copper domes. Yellow brick accents the red brick walls. Inside, the second- and third-floor sanctuary follows a traditional Orthodox plan, with a central bimah, a large carved oak Ark and a women's balcony. Original oak furnishings, light fixtures and wall and ceiling frescoes survive. A small wood-shingled succah stands beside the building. The property reflects Chelsea's large Jewish population in the early twentieth century, when Jewish residents made up nearly a third of the city. It is also the only pre-World War I synagogue left in Chelsea and remains in use for worship.","period_of_significance":"1909-1942","architect_builder":"Joll, Harry Dustin","architectural_style":"Late 19th and 20th Century Revivals: Romanesque Revival","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Still in active use as a synagogue, with daily services reported since construction; some windows have lost colored glass to vandalism and the lower-floor chapels have modern paneling.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:04.905794-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/85/7969/63796985/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/93000283.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/93000283/efad59bff5-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/93000283/efad59bff5-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Jameslwoodward","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Congregation_Agudath_Shalom_Chelsea_MA.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Jameslwoodward</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:Congregation_Agudath_Shalom_Chelsea_MA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63796985","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congregation_Agudath_Shalom","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5160581"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/suffolk-county/congregation-agudath-shalom-93000283/"}