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Texas: Central, South, and Gulf Coast » South Texas » Mcallen to Raymondville » Harlingen (Cameron County) » Congregation Beth Israel Temple

Congregation Beth Israel Temple

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1950, Cocke, Bowman and York. 1707 E. Jackson Ave.
  • (Photograph by Gerald Moorhead)

The temple complements Harrison Manor, a middle-income residential area built to house military personnel of the now-decommissioned Harlingen Air Force Base. The long rectangular building illustrates future designs—although still in subtle, not mature form—executed by the then-young, trendsetting firm, which included structural expression, clerestory lighting, and domestic-scale institutional buildings.

The temple could be perceived as a linear, flat-roofed formal residence were it not for its front parking area, and its cubed, partial second story sheathed in vertical wood siding offsetting the broken-coursed limestone walls of its first story. Inside, the worship area is dramatically opened to the second story, and a rear wall of continuous awning windows connects the space to the exterior, much like a domestic garden.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Gerald Moorhead et al.
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Data

What's Nearby

York House
Laurel Park Subdivision
East Taylor Avenue Houses
Casa del Sol
Clark and Courts Building

Citation

Gerald Moorhead et al., "Congregation Beth Israel Temple", [Harlingen, Texas], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/TX-01-MR27.

Print Source

Cover: Buildings of Texas

Buildings of Texas: Central, South, and Gulf Coast, Gerald Moorhead and contributors. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2013, 301-302.

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