St. John’s Wood Synagogue was originally in Abbey Road, NW8. It was the first new synagogue to be created under the new United Synagogue, which was formed by an amalgamation of the City Synagogues in 1870, and was founded in 1876 to serve the Jewish population in Hampstead, Kilburn and St. John’s Wood. The building was designed by Hyman H. Collins and opened in 1882. It has a red brick facade and a graceful interior with slender cast iron columns. This original St. John’s Wood Synagogue is now the home of the New London Synagogue.
However, the building was outgrown by the congregation and in the 1950s a new site was acquired in Grove End Road. These two Orders of Service were printed in 1964, to consecrate the new building, and in 1976, to celebrate the centenary of the founding of the community.
The new building in Grove End Road is large, and modern, but not particularly elegant. The interior has a striking pointed Ark. Comfortable, with an expensive finish, but not a great “cathedral” synagogue, in spite of being the semi-official home of the United Synagogue.
St. John’s Wood has an outstanding collection of 160 “Hillman windows”. These stained glass windows were designed and made by the artist David Hillman, son of Dayan Samuel Isaac Hillman of the London Beth Din (Jewish ecclesiastical court). He was the author of a series of books entitled “Ohr Hayashar”.
Jewish Miscellanies 