Deco and Demographics – The Uncertain Future of Temple Emanuel

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Temple Emanuel, today

 

When I walked in to Paterson, New Jersey’s Temple Emanuel, I thought it looked like a movie theater. One of those places that’s so ornate that even with some features removed it’s still impressive. My guess about the theater was close; the temple was the work of little-known but prolific architect Fred Wesley Wentworth, who designed a number of movie theaters including the immense Stanley in Jersey City–with which I had a  connection of sorts (more about this later).

 

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The temple in the 1970s, with candles and it’s original bronze filagree doors.

 

From the turn of the century, the Jewish community in the Paterson area grew steadily, with services held at several locations. In 1928, Jacob Fabian, a theater owner donated $400,000 toward the building of a new temple, to be built by his architect of choice, F. W. Wentworth. Fabian later provided additional money to build a Hebrew school adjacent to the temple. The school is especially significant as it still operates and from what I can see, is in it’s original condition.

 

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Window, Fabian Hebrew School, adjacent to Temple Emanuel

 

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A very large decorative panel or possibly a ventilation grille(?)

 

 

 

As with many industrial cities, Paterson’s fortunes changed and eventually, most of Temple Emanuel’s congregation moved to the suburbs. In 1995, a new house of worship was built in Franklin Lakes. The rest of the story is complicated so I will do my best but feel free to correct me. Temple Emanuel was sold but with the condition that the original owners had the option to remove the spectacular stained glass windows. After a legal battle, this option was exercised and some of the windows were taken to the new facility in Franklin Lakes.

Plans to turn the temple into a community arts center didn’t work out and it is currently leased by a Dominican order, the Ministerio Familiar Restauracion en Cristo who are doing their best to maintain and possibly restore some of the temple’s features.

 

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Ceiling, Temple Emanuel (2013) 

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A section of the ceiling 

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Some water damage, unfortunately. 

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These lamps are what first caught my attention, years ago. 

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Closer look at one of the exterior lamps.

 

In 2007, Temple Emanuel was listed as one of New Jersey’s Ten Most Endangered Sites. For now, the building seems safe, though obviously not in ideal condition.

* My connection to the temple and F.W. Wentworth is that long ago, before deciding to concentrate on Art Deco architecture, I photographed the Stanley theater extensively, just after it closed but before it fell into disrepair (since restored by the Jehovah’s Witnesses.) The Stanley was in a completely different style, so I never made the connection with the temple, even though I passed the temple fairly often. To my eternal regret–maybe that’s not the best way to say it, given the subject of this article–I never tried to see the inside of the temple when it was intact. I did find a small photo of what the ceiling originally looked like here. This must have been one of the most spectacular examples of Art Deco stained glass, anywhere. I hate to see you leave Decopix but if you didn’t click on the link in the previous sentence to see the ceiling in it’s original state, you really should.

BTW, I recently did a brief piece on the Stanley theater for The Handmade Photograph, which can be found here.

There’s a new book on F.W. Wentworth; information here.

 

 

 

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3 Responses to Deco and Demographics – The Uncertain Future of Temple Emanuel

  1. Amanda Fabian says:

    Hi,
    Jacob Fabian was my great grandfather. I am Amanda Fabian. Since you offered any corrections I feel I have an important one. You said the temple congregation moved to Franklin Lakes in 1995. But Rabbi Finkelstein did services in Paterson at least through 2002. Maybe even Longer. The reason I am so sure is because I moved to Bergen county in 1998. And I remember my children running around the temple. So it had to be 2002ish. Please feel free to correct me lol and thank you so much for taking an interest in my great grandfather’s achievements , philanthropy and forward thinking!

  2. Janet Tucker says:

    As a child I spent many High Holy Days in Temple Emmanuel. Of course, I took the incredible architecture totally for granted. I was a kid. It was always Indian summer, and I always sweated in my new winter outfit (no air conditioning). Thank you for your article. I’m grateful that the building is being protected for now.

    1. Randy Juster says:

      Thanks for the comment. For years, I lived north of the temple and only saw it from a distance. I wish I had taken the time to see the inside, years ago.

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