TELL Magazine: October - November 2019

{APPRECIATING OUR HERITAGE SANCTUARY}
by Stephen Nordon, Nordon Jago Architects
The Heritage Sanctuary is the crucible of the Emanuel Congregation, a place where
more than 75 years of history, both personal and congregational have taken place.
What goes un-noticed is that the
values of today’s congregation were
shared by the original congregation,
and that the architecture
of the Heritage Sanctuary
reflected these philosophies.
It washed up on the other side of
the world like Noah’s ark from
the wreckage of European Reform
Judaism, into a host community of
conventional orthodoxies, a host
community nervous about what
impression these newcomers were
going to make on their world.
This founding congregation came
from a tradition that sought
to refine religious practice and
philosophy to their ethical essence;
to do its own thinking. They
chose to represent themselves with
the latest architectural thinking
from Europe. It was not the
architecture of symmetrical set
piece authority. It was inspired
by the modern, the geometry of
dynamic repose and asymmetry
This can be seen in the main façade
of the sanctuary. The prisms that
form its spatial presence and the
lines that define its doors, windows
and parapets are inspired by the de
Stijl movement, a mid-20th century,
contemporary art movement,
whose compositional principles are
reflected in modern architecture.
The original spatial composition
of the sanctuary was obscured
with the construction of the north
wing, old plans show that the
entire north façade with its circular
windows are no longer visible. You
can still see these windows from
the gallery staircase. (below)
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