Temple Oheb Shalom is a Reform synagogue in Baltimore, Maryland. The highest point in the city is located in its parking lot.
History
The congregation was founded in 1853 by Jewish immigrants from
German ConfederationThe German Confederation was the loose association of Central European states created by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 to coordinate the economies of separate German-speaking countries. It acted as a buffer between the powerful states of Austria and Prussia...
member states. Its first home was on Hanover Street near Camden Yards.
In 1892 the congregation built the
Eutaw Place Temple, designed by architect
Joseph Evans SperryArchitect Joseph Evans Sperry was born in 1854 in Georgetown, South Carolina. He later relocated to Baltimore, Maryland, where he partnered with James Bosley Noel Wyatt to form the architectural firm Wyatt and Sperry. Their affiliation lasted from 1878 to 1887. The two probably became acquainted...
who modeled it after the
Great Synagogue of FlorenceThe Great Synagogue of Florence or Tempio Maggiore is a notable synagogue in Florence, Italy.-History and architecture:The synagogue was built between 1874 and 1882. The architects were Mariano Falcini, Professor Vincente Micheli, and Marco Treves, who was Jewish...
in the fashionable
Moorish RevivalMoorish Revival or Neo-Moorish is one of the exotic revival architectural styles that were adopted by architects of Europe and the Americas in the wake of the Romanticist fascination with all things oriental...
style. The congregation sold the building to the
Prince Hall MasonsPrince Hall Freemasonry derives from historical events which led to a tradition of separate predominantly African-American Freemasonry in North America...
in 1961.
In 1953 the congregation acquired land in Pikesville, and finished construction on its present building on Park Heights Avenue, designed by
Walter GropiusWalter Adolph Georg Gropius was a German architect and founder of the Bauhaus School who, along with Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Le Corbusier, is widely regarded as one of the pioneering masters of modern architecture....
in 1960.
Benjamin SzoldBenjamin Szold was an American rabbi and scholar....
was rabbi from 1859 to 1892, his daughter
Henrietta SzoldHenrietta Szold was a U.S. Jewish Zionist leader and founder of the Hadassah Women's Organization. In 1942, she co-founded Ihud, a political party in Mandate Palestine dedicated to a binational solution.-Biography:...
was the founder of
HadassahHadassah, the Women's Zionist Organization of America is an American Jewish volunteer women's organization. Founded in 1912 by Henrietta Szold, it is one of the largest international Jewish organizations, with around...
.