Congregation Beth Israel (Portland, Oregon)

Congregation Beth Israel is a Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue, located at 1931 NW Flanders Street, Portland, Oregon, in the United States.

History
The congregation was founded in 1858, while Oregon was still a territory, and built its first synagogue in 1859.

The congregation's first building was a modest, single story, pitched-roof, wood-framed, clapboard building with Gothic pointed-arch windows and door.

This early structure was replaced by an 1889 synagogue building, which was destroyed by fire in December 1923. Designed by Portland architect Warren H. Williams, the building, described as Moorish Revival design in some sources, is elsewhere described as a combination of eclectic and Gothic Revival styles, with two towers topped by bulbous domes. The Oregonian newspaper in 1923 described its style as "semi-Gothic and Mooresque". It was located at S.W. 12th and Main Streets in downtown Portland. Its two towers were 165 ft tall, and the main interior space measured 82 x, and featured an arched ceiling 52 ft high.

It was replaced in 1928 by a notable Neo-Byzantine synagogue building at N.W. 19th and Flanders that continues to serve the congregation. This building was listed as Temple Beth Israel on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979, and is considered one of the finest examples of Neo-Byzantine-style architecture on the west coast. The building was inspired by the Alte Synagoge (Steelerstrasse Synagogue) in Essen, Germany. The interior of Steelerstrasse, the first modern synagogue in Germany, was praised as Germany's most beautiful; however it was destroyed during Kristallnacht.