One of my discoveries during lockdown was the Bevis Marks Synagogue, a remarkable survival right in the heart of the city, within a stone’s throw of Aldgate and just within the old city walls. The building opened in 1701 and has been in continuous use ever since, at the heart of the city’s Jewish community, narrowly escaping being blown up by the IRA in 1992. Its architect, Joseph Avis, was a Quaker who had worked under Wren.
Two years ago, the Synagogue was involved in a long planning battle because a developer wanted to build a 47-storey tower block on Bury Street, so close that it would have blocked out almost all daylight from the Synagogue. After a tough campaign, the City’s planning Committee sensibly turned the application down and everyone breathed a sigh of relief. It was the first sign that it was not necessarily in the city’s best interest to pursue a relentless policy of high-rise growth, ignoring its history and any sense of respect for one of its long-term communities.
So, what have the developers done ? They have bought the building next door and are about to submit a proposal for a 42-storey tower, hoping that this time round it will be hard for the Synagogue to galvanise opposition so effectively again.
This is outrageously cynical. I hope that the City’s planners will simply turn down the proposal at pre-application stage and make it clear that once the planning committee has made a decision, that is the decision, and lopping off five storeys is an inadequate, wrong-headed response.
Meanwhile, not just to preserve the Synagogue itself, but the surrounding area, there is a proposal to create a proper conservation area round it.
It would be good if you could support it to its full extent (Option 3) (Have Your Say Today – Creechurch Conservation Area – Commonplace
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