West End Synagogue

The West End Synagogue moved into a new building designed by renowned architect, Percival Goodman, on Nashville’s West End Avenue in 1951. In the 1940s Goodman, an Ecole des Beaux-Arts trained designer and theorist, advocated for new Jewish buildings to be designed in the Modern Architecture style. As such he along with the Synagogue congregants gave Nashville an outstanding example of mid-century Modernish architecture.

Fast forward to the early 21st Century and you find Manuel Zeitlin Architects invited by the Synagogue to design renovations and additions to their school and courtyard. Then again, starting around 2015, we were invited to master plan and help implement a series of renovations to the building that included a new pre-school, updated chapel interiors, renovated kosher kitchens, new front entry, exterior repairs, and a complete refreshening of the sanctuary and social hall.

The design of the new sanctuary began in 2019 and construction was completed in late 2021 just in time for Rosh Hashanah. MZA, always fans of designers who push boundaries, worked to design a new interior that is respectful of Mr. Goodman’s original building as well as his vision for the future. The result is a sleek, contemporary reinterpretation of many of Mr Goodman’s ideas in simple stone cladding, understated colors, wood details, glass artwork, and new technologies.