Comments on: Morley Von Sternberg At 19 Princelet St

By: Yvonne Cheyney

Yvonne Cheyney — Wed, 23 Mar 2022 01:38:42 +0000

Paul Phillips mentioned Commercial Street Police Station. Does he mean the police station just across from Elder Street. We were very familiar with that station as it was just a few houses down from our family living at 20 Elder Street 1953-1959. Visiting a few years back – the police station has gone. So has #20 Elder Street replaced with a building incorporating that number. Thanks to Spitalfields Trust about 80% of the street was saved.

By: Avram Jakubowicz

Avram Jakubowicz — Tue, 22 Mar 2022 11:46:38 +0000

My wife comes from a Dutch family and I am from Polish stock ( unpopular mix in mid 19th C)
When we last visited Sandys Row what struck me was the names of benefactors displayed prominently on the balcony front were all from Eastern Europe yet the Chief Rabbi here was strongly against its establishment. The consecration was a ceremony was by a Sephardic Rabbi.

By: Paul Phillips

Paul Phillips — Tue, 22 Mar 2022 11:10:57 +0000

Thank you for your description/history of the conversion from non-conformist worship to Judaism, your words created a real sense of peace within me. But so sorry to see the decay in the Princelet Street building. The pictures still conjure up a sense of peace and healing but the decay is equally depressing.
I can relate to this somewhat as I started off my Police career at Commercial Street Police Station aged just 17, as a Police Cadet. I can still smell the bagels and pretzels being loaded onto ‘barrows’ in one of the back streets behind Godfrey Phillips’s Tobacco Factory!!

By: terry ashton

terry ashton — Tue, 26 Nov 2019 07:52:00 +0000

It would be so wonderful if this could be fully restored as a working 19th century synagogue and provide us with a real sense of what it would have been like for our ancestors to have attended.

By: Theresa Musgrove

Theresa Musgrove — Sat, 28 May 2016 08:41:22 +0000

I disagree entirely with those who want to ‘restore’ this wonderful building: there are so few places left in which the past is present, the ‘genius loci’ unassailed, and safe from the vandalism of faux restoration.

Preserve it as it is, with its integrity and spirit alive, and still speaking to those with ears to listen.

By: Alex Knisely

Alex Knisely — Fri, 27 May 2016 12:38:49 +0000

Here is the synagogue
there is no steeple
open the doors and
there are no people.

What is belief without believers?

This state of decay shames those to whom the building was entrusted.h

By: Annie S

Annie S — Fri, 27 May 2016 11:29:18 +0000

I do so love this place, there is something very fascinating and atmospheric about it, I have already visited on four open days over the past few years – very tempted to go again!

By: Lynne Perrella

Lynne Perrella — Fri, 27 May 2016 10:33:59 +0000

What a graceful structure; full of so many distinguished and distinctive touches. Like your other readers, I am hopeful that the right person will come along and rescue this fine building. In the meantime, these stunning, narrative photographs capture a moment of “waiting”. Is that a letter displayed on the lectern? Perhaps from a scrapbook of saved correspondence, discovered in one of the discarded suitcases?

By: Richard

Richard — Fri, 27 May 2016 09:50:35 +0000

Beautiful colours and textures. It should be kept in its gorgeous state of decay like Calke Abbey.

By: sarah

sarah — Fri, 27 May 2016 07:23:36 +0000

Heart-breaking