South Manchester Synagogue : Attraction of Manchester

The South Manchester Synagogue is a former synagogue in Manchester, England, of diverse stylistic influences and innovative technical construction.

The result of a competition won by Joseph Sunlight, the synagogue was completed in 1913. It stands in Wilbraham Road, Fallowfield.

Sunlight adopted the style of a Turkish mosque, complete with dome and minaret though interpreted in a modernist, it has even been said cubist, idiom. Sunlight confessed to quoting Hagia Sophia in Constantinople and the tower of Westminster Cathedral.

The building marked a first in British synagogue construction in avoiding column supports for its 35 ft dome by the use of reinforced concrete in its span and the lattice girders supporting the cantilever gallery.

As of 2004, the building is redundant, the congregation having relocated, but there are plans to convert it to a residential Jewish student centre.