Lauderdale Road synagogue

The Lauderdale Road Synagogue in Maida Vale is the seat of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews, Britain's oldest Sephardi congregation. The Shaar Shamayim community was founded in 1656 under Oliver Cromwell as the first Jewish congregation since the 1290 expulsion; the current synagogue, designed by Davis & Emanuel in Byzantine-Moorish style, opened in 1896 when the community moved from the East End to wealthier West London. The wooden tevah and white-marble Aron Kodesh follow Sephardi tradition. The building is Grade II listed; bronze plaques inside commemorate Portuguese crypto-Jews who sought asylum in London after the Inquisition.