Nathan Solomon Joseph

Nathan Solomon Joseph (1834-1909) is not closely associated with Islington, although his architect’s practice was situated for a while at 45 Finsbury Pavement, in the south of today’s borough.

Uncle of the now better known architect, Delissa Joseph, Nathan was as much involved in community work (for example at the Jews’ Hospital and Orphan Asylum at Norwood) as he was in architecture. In his day, however, he was regarded as one of the foremost synagogue architects of 19th century Britain, closely associated with the Anglo-Jewish architectural ‘reformation’. His works include London’s Central, New West End, Bayswater and Sandys Row synagogues, along with Glasgow’s at Garnet Hill and Belfast’s in Great Victoria Street.

He was also architect of the Poets Road (or ‘Dalston’, though it was not in Dalston) Synagogue, which opened in 1885. This was one of only two large, purpose-built synagogues in19th century Islington, the other being the North London (or ‘Barnsbury’) Synagogue, which had opened in Lofting Road in 1868.

Unlike the North London, which was demolished in its entirety in the mid-20th century, some physical trace still remains of the Poets Road shul, although the building itself was knocked down for rebuilding as the flats at number 59. Between numbers 57 and 59, there survives a strip of the synagogue’s London stock brickwork, running down the side of the house and along the party wall to the gatepost. It is one of the rare physical traces that survive today of Islington’s once large, diverse and vibrant Jewish community.