Beth Hamedrash, Villiers Street

This is a large purpose-built Beth Hamedrash (religious study hall often attached to a synagogue). It may have been associated with or preceded a Synagogue shown on the Ordnance Survey 25 inch map of 1919 on the west side of Villiers Street South towards the southern end (HER 10843).
Sunderland's east end was in the late 19th century home to 1,000 Jewish immigrants, many from Krottingen in Lithuania. The first Beth Hamedrash (1891) was in Zion Street. In 1895 the congregation (Chevra Torah from 1891 to 1899) moved to Villiers Street North. In 1899 a new premises was built at Villiers Street South. In 1903 a new synagogue opened in Meaburn Street. In 1938 a new Beth Hamedrash was built on the corner of Mowbray Road and The Oaks (now demolished). The Ashkenazi Orthodox congregation was incorporated into the Sunderland Hebrew Congregation in 1984.
It is not clear whether this building is the 'Villiers Street North' building. It appears to be shown on the Ordnance Survey 25 inch map of 1897, which was revised in 1895.
The building is described in the Historic Area Assessment of Sunderland (Building 8, pp118-120). It is a three storey 5 bay building facing east onto Villiers Street, constructed in red brick with sandstone detailing and quoins, and a variety of window styles. There is a Star of David plaque at the upper level of each end bay. Despite its size and grandeur it was quickly found to be inadequate, and the building had become the ‘Institute for the Blind’ by 1919. Two blocks were added to the south facing onto Borough Road in the 1930s, the eastern one later becoming Peter Smith’s Antiques.