The Plum Street/Wise Temple
Plum southeast corner 8th streets;
James K. Wilson; 1864-66

Significant both historically and architecturally, the Plum Street Temple (K.K. B’nai Yeshurun, founded 1838) was built for the first Reform Jewish congregation west of the Alleghenies and is considered the seat of American Reform Judaism. Mid-19th-century Cincinnati became home to many liberal, intellectually oriented German Jewish immigrants. In 1854 Congregation B’nai Yeshurun called Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise (1819-1900) from Albany, N.Y., to lead them. Rabbi Wise, who believed in "molding Judaism to the times," also established Hebrew Union College (1875; present campus by A. Lincoln Fechheimer & Benjamin Ihorst; 1907 and later; 3101 Clifton Ave, Clifton), as well as The American Israelite (1854).

In 1864 the B’nai Yeshurun congregation commissioned a new house of worship for Wise from James Keys Wilson (1828-94), Cincinnati’s first native architect. Trained in New York by Martin E. Thompson and James Renwick, Jr., Wilson brought a new standard of quality and imagination to Cincinnati architecture on his return about 1850. He designed in both an unusually authentic historicist manner and in an original eclectic style, exemplified by the Plum Street Temple, as it is usually called.

Combining the form of a Gothic cathedral - a triple facade (originally painted to resemble stone), a rose window in a pointed arch, and minarets serving as towers - with exquisite "Moorish" or "Saracenic" carved detail, the building has 13 "Byzantine" domes. This was a first attempt in America to create a "Jewish architecture," reflecting the diverse intellectual and cultural currents that have influenced Jewish culture. The spectacular, recently restored interior is exotically stencilled in saturated colors, with Hebrew inscriptions chosen by Wise, original brass chandeliers, and turn-of-the-century electric lights. NHL. Open on special occasions.

Two other architectural landmarks stand at this intersection: the bold Greek Revival St. Peter in Chains Cathedral (1841-45; by Henry Walter; enlarged and modernized 1952-57 by Edward J.Schulte), the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cincinnati; and the splendid Richardsonian Romanesque Revival Cincinnati City Hall (1887-93; by Samuel Hannaford & Sons; see 5). Both NR. Usually open.