by Johanna Ginsberg
NJJN Staff Writer

March 26, 2009

Undertaking a multi-million-dollar synagogue renovation is complicated enough for most congregations without the added worries about tampering with architectural icons or a failing economy.

Congregation B’nai Israel, a Conservative congregation in Millburn, is trying to manage all three concerns simultaneously.

The building — at 160 Millburn Ave. — was constructed in 1951 and was the first synagogue designed by architect Percival Goodman, who gained fame for his synagogue designs.

Goodman integrated into his modernist design commissioned artworks, including a painting by Robert Motherwell for the lobby, a sculpture by Herbert Ferber, and a Torah curtain by Adolf Gottlieb. He also used natural light throughout the structure, rather than stained glass. These eventually became signature elements of Goodman’s work.

But over the last half century, a population that mostly walked to synagogue now drives, and a structure built for a congregation of under 300 member families now serves more than 500. The religious school, in a Goodman-designed wing later added to the original structure, has a student population of 222.

Designed with a front entrance on Millburn Avenue, the building was remodeled in 1995 to enable entrance from a parking lot.

Plans for the current renovation, scheduled to begin in early April, include an enlarged nursery and religious school, a new multi-purpose space, a youth lounge, a teachers’ administration area and lounge, and a new interior “street” to aid circulation around the building.

Meanwhile, the economic downturn has forced the congregation to divide the plan into two phases, postponing the proposed expansion of the sanctuary, social hall, catering kitchen, and main lobby and the creation of a new entrance with an extension for a sukka.

The plans, by Larry Wente of Gertler & Wente Architects, LLP, have drawn the applause of much of the congregation, but the ire of at least one congregant and some area preservationists.

A March 23 meeting to explain the decision to scale back the renovation to the congregation drew more than 50 attendees.

During the meeting, congregants expressed their desire to see the full renovation completed as planned and their frustration with the board’s decision to bow to the economic pressures.

The congregation has raised $5.2 million and needs another $700,000 to complete the project, according to congregation president David Touger.

Inda Sechzer, a Maplewood architect and B’nai Israel member since 1983, said the design violates the vision of Percy Goodman. She has marshaled support from several area organizations and individuals, although she acknowledges she is a coalition of one at the synagogue.

The rest of the congregation and the architect argue that the new renovation is sensitive to the original vision and need not be scrapped.

An architect’s ‘journey’?

The building is not a historic landmark, although it probably meets all the requirements necessary to be named one; the synagogue has not applied for the status, and it is not mandatory. Therefore, it is not required to file its renovation plans and have them approved beyond zoning issues.

Sechzer objects to the parking lot entrance and addition, even suggesting that the 1995 addition be scrapped in favor of reinstating the original Millburn Avenue entrance. She also objects to the two-story addition that will create new space for the religious school.

And she has other concerns.

Her focus is on “the journey” she believes Goodman crafted for congregants — from street, to lobby, to sanctuary.

“The journey through the building was designed to take you from the profane to the sacred, from the public to the private,” she explained. “The transition is dramatic. It’s like you’ve gone from one world to another.”

Walking in from the parking lot, on the other hand, sends the congregants almost directly into the sanctuary and, in her view, violates the journey.

In addition, Sechzer said, the planned changes to the religious school compete with the original facade.

“The religious school is taller and larger than the original sanctuary volume,” she said. “The front facade of that new school building is a cartoon-like copy of the sanctuary façade.”

Ron Emrich, executive director of Preservation New Jersey, declined to take sides in the matter.

The structure “is a significant historic building, and we hope this or any project would be carefully thought out and meet the standards,” he said, referring to the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties. “The standards are pretty clear regarding what gives the building its historic character — prominent facades, with fine art incorporated and how the materials are used.”

Among those sympathetic to Sechzer’s complaints is Princeton architect Margaret Bzdek, who wrote a letter urging Millburn Township officials “to consider this expansion carefully, as its completion may mean the loss of one of the state’s finest expressions of modern art and architecture.”

Nina Rapaport, chair of the New York/Tristate Docomomo, an organization dedicated to protecting modernist buildings, worries that a “most innovative worship environment…will be diminished with the new renovation and addition.” She urged synagogue officials to “revisit the design of the expansion.”

Valuing history

Congregation members, the president, and the architect disagree with Sechzer’s assessment of the proposed renovation.

“We have taken pains not to touch what Percival Goodman designed,” said president David Touger, to whom calls were directed. “We value that our synagogue is part of architectural history. That’s why we did not touch the sanctuary or the original entryway. We’re not touching the most important parts of what he designed. They will always remain intact.”

As for the parking lot entrance, “nobody wants to use the original entrance because it’s so far from the parking lot,” he said. The problem with the 1995 addition, in his view, isn’t that it was undertaken, but rather that it wasn’t effective.

“What we wanted to do with the new construction is to create a new lobby area that would have a hallway going around the sanctuary so you wouldn’t have to go through the sanctuary,” he said.

Architect Larry Wente was quick to express his respect for Goodman’s work, calling it “intimidating” to be working on his building. He explained the choices he made with regard to the design.

“We decided with a committee that whatever we did would be sympathetic and in the spirit of Percival Goodman’s work,” he said. The firm did not consult with preservation experts, he said, but rather relied on its own internal expertise, honed in a variety of historic renovation projects.

Wente acknowledges that the school addition could be seen as “diluting the vision” of Goodman’s design, although he prefers to think of it as an attempt to “expand the language.”

“There’s a unity of vision of the congregation and community about not having something glaringly different,” he said. “Also we were careful to be sympathetic in terms of our choice of materials.” He said there were “hundreds of examples where we followed the rules he had set in his own designs.”

B’nai Israel’s Rabbi Steven Bayar said, “The issues we are facing are real issues facing the larger Jewish community. Our congregation has priorities. The other renovations did not take the historic footprint into account. It’s an unfortunate situation especially if the building is difficult to begin with.

“But this has been the big issue for us. What do we do? We think we are being pretty sensitive. In order to put up a building we can live with, we have to change some of the footprints.”

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