Temple Emanuel

The story

Written by AI from this property's National Register nomination and the record above; every sentence is checked against its sources before it appears here. Corrections: privacy@treealive.com

Temple Emanuel is a synagogue at 1201 E. Highland Ave. in Ponca City, Kay County, built in 1964 in the Modernist style. It was designed by the Ponca City firm of Timberlake and Kanady, whose architect G. Harold Kanady also served as builder.

Why it's listed

It was listed under criterion C and Criteria Consideration A, with local significance in architecture; the nomination sets its period of significance at 1964, the year it was built.

Physical character

The walls are brick, with concrete, stucco, aluminum, wood, metal and asphalt elsewhere, under a flat, low horizontal roofline. The sanctuary's brick-clad walls are parabolic, the west-facing façade carries a relief of the Ten Commandments, and a U-shaped driveway leads to a porte-cochere entrance. Aluminum-framed windows, a stained wood slab door and wood paneling accompany folding partitions and bi-fold doors, and the sanctuary holds a seven-branched light and an Ark. The building has stood unaltered since it was completed in 1964.

Historical context

In 1962, twenty-seven Jewish families organized Temple Emanuel and acquired the building site from Gerald Edward Cooley; groundbreaking followed on May 24, 1964. It was dedicated on the first night of Chanukah in November 1964, and the congregation paid it off in full by Passover of 1967.