This tour will explore the early twentieth-century former synagogues and other institutions that were at the heart of the predominantly Jewish community of the Near North Side and their present uses today. Of the six original Jewish places of worship in the neighborhood, three structures survive – Mikro Kodesh, designed in the Moorish Byzantine style in the early 1920s, and Tifereth B’nai Jacob and Sharei Zedeck. The tour will explore these former synagogues from both an architectural and cultural perspective. The tour will also touch on other buildings that were important to the community, including the Emanuel Cohen Center, a community center (now Oak Park Center); and the Jewish Sheltering Home for Children, an orphanage (now Minneapolis Avenues for Homeless Youth).
About the tour guides:
Richard Woldorsky, a 1971 graduate of Minneapolis North High, has a background in urban planning and landscape architecture. His interest in the structure and anthropology of cities was nurtured by growing up in Near North Minneapolis. He maintains a strong affection for the neighborhood he knew as a child and has an insatiable interest in its continual evolution.
Peter Sussman, a 1971 graduate of Minneapolis Southwest High School, is an architect and urban historian who has been exploring community history for 35 years. His parents and grandparents were Northside residents and he had the opportunity to reconnect with the neighborhood through the 2004 renovation and addition to Sumner Community Library.