Middle Street Synagogue

Middle Street Synagogue stands in the heart of Brighton, a Grade II* listed building of pale Sussex brick in an eclectic mix of Italian Renaissance and Byzantine Revival styles. Its west-facing frontage on Middle Street shows yellow bricks in English bond, arched windows topped with red and blue tiles, and a large rose window above the wooden door. The façade divides into five bays, alternately projecting and recessed, with safety panels protecting the ground-floor windows since the 1960s. The first-floor windows appear in pairs on the projecting bays and singly on the recessed ones. Cast-iron columns inside support ladies’ galleries on three sides, their capitals shaped like plants, fruit, flowers and crops from the Middle East. The building’s interior was funded largely by the Sassoon family and visitors from outside Brighton, creating an unusually ornate space. The architect Thomas Lainson followed a Byzantine Revival plan, giving the synagogue a basilica form with elaborate stencilling, gilding, brass, marble and mosaics. The Torah Ark sits on a marble-stepped dais in the centre of the apse, lit from above through a stained-glass half-dome. Brass rails, menorah and pulpit surround the Ark, and late-19th-century stained glass fills the windows, much of it by Campbell & Smith. Electric lighting was installed in 1892, making this the first electrically lit synagogue in Britain. Visitors today find a building still used for cultural events and weddings, though no longer the main place of worship. Guided tours, especially during the Brighton Festival, explore the sumptuous interior and explain its architectural details. The former Regency Synagogue in Devonshire Place, now in commercial use, once held the congregation until the Middle Street building opened in 1875. The Chanukah menorah was brought from that earlier synagogue and remains in use. The Grade II* listing recognises the synagogue as Brighton’s second most important historic building after the Royal Pavilion.