Building the Beaux-Arts in the Steel City: Pittsburgh's Rodef Shalom Synagogue, 1906-1907

This paper examines the construction in 1906-07 of Rodef Shalom Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The relationships between the Paris-trained, New York-based architect, Henry Hornbostel; the Philadelphia-based general contractor, Thomas Reilly; the Rodef Shalom building committee, and a host of sub-contractors, material suppliers and agents on the building site is unusually well-documented and includes the involvement of the New York-based Guastavino Company for the construction of the building's signature dome. Emerging from the Rodef Shalom correspondence is a clear picture of the sequencing of design documentation as building work progressed, the central role of the general contractor in managing the project, and the hierarchy in communications between architect, client and general contractor. The challenges of coordinating a complex project at a distance relied on correspondence, photography, telephones, telegrams and railways, which together contributed as much as on-site agents to shaping the construction process. Special thanks to Martha Berg and the Rodef Shalom Congregation for permitting me to consult material in their archives in early 2020.