New Book: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Beth Sholom Synagogue

THE WESLEYAN CONNECTION
By Olivia Drake

Beth Sholom Synagogue by Joe Siry.

CONNECTICUT - Frank Lloyd Wright’s Beth Sholom Synagogue in Elkins Park, Penn., which was constructed in 1959 and is considered one of his greatest masterpieces. Beth Sholom is unique in its tetrahedral steel structure that creates a large main auditorium whose dome is almost entirely of translucent glass.  Wright had experimented with such an idea in earlier unbuilt projects, but Beth Sholom was his only synagogue and the largest free span that he ever realized, yet its seats on floors sloping toward the frontal platform create a communal space that developed from his earlier buildings for assembly. Joseph Siry, chair and professor of art and art history [at Wesleyan College]...book, Beth Sholom Synagogue: Frank Lloyd Wright and Modern Religious Architecture, was published by the University of Chicago Press in December 2011.[link]