Inspired by some of the recent Modernist postings, mention must be made of the City's finest Modernist synagogue Beth Tzedec at 1700 Bathurst Street, designed by Peter Dickinson and completed in 1955. The largest synagogue in Canada, the sanctuary contains about 2,600 seats and can accomodate an additional capacity of 900 when panel doors are opened to connect it to the adjoining banquet hall.
The story of Beth Tzedec illustrates the history of the Jewish community in Toronto. It begins with the story of the Goel Tzedec congregation, formed in 1883, beginning on Richmond Street before buying and remodeling a church on University Avenue below Dundas, just north of Armoury, which at that point was part of "The Ward":
The story continues with the Beth Hamidrash Hagadol Chevra Tehillim congregation, founded in 1887, originally meeting at Richmond and York before buying the McCaul Street Methodist Church in 1904 at 67-69 McCaul Street (opposite Grange Avenue), becoming known as the McCaul Street Synagogue. The Jewish community was leaving the Ward and the heart of the community was shifting to Spadina and Kensington Market:
Post-war, the shift further north continued (Holy Blossom Synagogue had left Bond Street and erected their new building on Bathurst in 1938). Land was purchased on Bathurst in Cedarvale in 1951 and a design was developed with Peter Dickinson for a new complex that would include a sanctuary, banquet hall, library and school, in a very sophisticated site plan that followed the angled street grid:
A year after the groundbreaking, the two congregations amalgamated under the new name Beth Tzedec.
The new building was dedicated on December 9th, 1955.
Today:
Couple of years ago in Leipzig the German language only taxi driver is giving me a narrative tour on the way to the city centre; we pass a building he says "Stasi"; take both hands off the wheel and grabs his throat with one hand and air punches his head with the other.
