Full Report for Listed Buildings
The list description is not intended to be a complete inventory of what is listed: it is principally intended to aid identification. By law, the definition of a listed building includes the entire building (i) and any structure or object that is fixed to the said building and ancillary to it and (ii) any other structure or object that forms part of the land and has done so since before 1 July 1948, and was within the curtilage of the building, and ancillary to it, on the date on which said building was first included in the list, or on 1 January 1969, whichever was later.
Summary Description
Reference Number
14107
Building Number
Grade
II
Status
Designated
Date of Designation
20/12/1984
Date of Amendment
24/05/2002
Name of Property
Temple Court (former Cardiff United Synagogue)
Address
Location
Unitary Authority
Cardiff
Community
Pontcanna
Town
Cardiff
Locality
Easting
317412
Northing
176652
Street Side
SW
Location
Set back from the south end of the road behind a boundary wall and hedges.
Description
Broad Class
Religious, Ritual and Funerary
Period
History
Built 1896-7. Delissa Joseph, architect. The synagogue was closed in 1989 and was converted to office use with a large block added at the rear. The restored building was opened by Peter Hain in 1997 (plaque).
Exterior
Built in a stripped Romanesque style from snecked rubble with freestone dressings, Welsh slated main roofs, leaded domes with finials. Wide one-storey porch, with central entry and flanking vestibules, forward from high gable end of synagogue, with domed apse flanked by domed polygonal towers, aisled nave to rear. Pediment treatment to main gable, moulded cornices with angle brackets over rainwater pipes, continuous arched clerestory with linked hoodmoulds to apse. Porch parapets with cappings (angled over doorway); corner buttresses, 2-light mullioned windows (arched to ground floor). Painted archway of 3 orders to doorway with roll moulded head, scalloped capitals and attached columns, Hebrew inscription to outer archring. Double panelled doors up steps. Tall nave with clerestory windows grouped under arches, gabled aisles with 3-light windows on two levels (round headed under segmental relieving arches to ground floor). Oval oculus to plain gable end, stained glass. Inscription on entrance front reads : 'This Foundation Stone of the Cardiff New Synagogue was laid by Col. Albert Edward W Goldsmid, 41st Regimental District. April 29th 1896 / 5656 Delissa Joseph FRIBA, Architect.' There is now a large late C20 office block attached to the rear of the building.
Interior
Interior not available for inspection at the time of listing (1984), since 1989 this has been converted to offices. Inspected in part at resurvey. The interior has been completely changed and the only original feature seen was the domed apse above the entrance with seven narrow coloured glass lights and panelled plasterwork in the half-dome above.
Reason for designation
Included as a good piece of synagogue architecture designed by a notable architect of the type, which, despite alteration, retains its external character and contributes to the adjacent group of Victorian houses.
Cadw : Full Report for Listed Buildings [ Records 1 of 1 ]
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