The historic Joseph Avenue synagogue at the heart of an ambitious urban artistic revival plan was mostly demolished this week after engineers determined that restoring it would be too costly.
A fire in February 2022 caused significant structural damage on top of the challenges wrought by time. The Joseph Avenue Arts and Cultural Center board of trustees has been planning the partial demolition for several months, Vice President Bill Ferguson said.
“All of our work to use the bones of the building fell to the wayside due to water damage and fire damage,” he said. “The best solution for our performing arts center was to deconstruct the present framework, keep the façade so we can maintain the look of the space, and build anew.”
The only remnant of the former Congregation B’nai Israel will be the front wall. Behind that thin façade, a construction crew on Thursday morning was busy disassembling the 95-year-old building. The job will likely be done by Monday, project monitor Anthony Hopson said.