Status: Preserved
Location: Roughly bounded by Brown and Vollintine Avenues to the north and south, and McLean Boulevard and Evergreen Street on the east and west respectively, in Memphis
Built: 1946-1957
Architectural Style: Various: Modernist Ranch, Minimal Traditional, International, Colonial Revival
Original Function/Purpose: Residential
History: Vollintine Hills Historic District is a cohesive collection of 78 post-World War II homes centered around the Baron Hirsch Synagogue on the corner of Vollintine and Evergreen (now the Gethsemene Garden Church of God in Christ). The Memphis Jewish community had already begun to move eastward from the downtown core decades before its construction and by the 1950s wished to have a synagogue nearer their homes. Part of the building was begun in 1950 and finished in 1952, while the sanctuary (the eastern half of the building) dates from 1957. Builder Philip Belz headed the congregation at the time the International Style structure was planned and made significant donations to it; its architect was George Awsumb. Many of the homes in the district predate the synagogue, easily two-thirds having been built in the three years 1949, ’50 and ’51. By the 1970s history was repeating itself; the congregation established a new synagogue near Yates and I-240, and sold this building to the Church of God in Christ. Vollintine Hills HD is one of the four NR-listed Vollintine historic districts that now make up collectively the Vollintine Evergreen Community Association or VECA as a Historic Overlay District.
Maps:
City Council District: 7
Super District: 8
County Commission District: 7