Torah Temimah Primary School

The school occupies the building and site of the former Dollis Hill Synagogue. Owen Williams acted as both architect and engineer for the building, which was consecrated in 1938. Concrete was Williams' material of choice and here he used reinforced concrete, generally only 125mm in thickness, cast in situ behind a cork lining left exposed as the internal wall finish. With this system, he created a series of vertical planes, zig-zagged in plan to enclose the hall, with similarly folded planes for its roof. With a span of 18.3m, the roof is of sufficient transverse pitch for rainwater drainage, so asphalt weatherproofing was not needed. The two-storey parts of the complex are rectilinear in plan with flat roofs.^[6]

The blandness of the outside walls is relieved by two types of emblematic window openings: hexagonal windows enclosing the shape of the Star of David; and windows with an inverted arch form that includes a stylistic echo of the form of the traditional Jewish seven-branched candelabrum (the "menorah") from the ancient Temple in Jerusalem. These windows run in horizontal rows around the building. The hexagonal windows are of stained glass and are themed around the months and festivals of the Jewish year and the Twelve Tribes of Israel. Although all the designs are different, these windows have colours and other stylistic elements in common that give coherence and a sense of unity to the collection. The inverted arch form windows are of plain clear glass. Williams later justified the whimsical window forms as being of structural relevance to a girder-like concrete element.^[6]

The original community hall stood next to the new synagogue building, and was also subsequently modernised around 1952. It stood until 1996 when it was demolished to make space for the school playground. The building was registered as a Grade II listed building by English Heritage in 1988, fifty years after its construction.^[7]

The United Synagogue sold the building to the Trustees of Torah Temimah Primary School in 1996. To create the school, six classrooms were constructed in the ground floor main sanctuary area, plus offices in the entrance foyer. An additional floor was also constructed across the whole of the main sanctuary area apart from a space in front of the original synagogue Ark, which was left as an atrium to keep the original Ark location and surrounding features visible. The Ark itself was removed. This additional floor, which linked the women's galleries down each side, was divided to form two further classrooms, a school hall, and smaller teaching and storage areas. Many of the original building features were maintained, including the main entrance doors, windows and internal oak panelling. The cost was £1 million.

• Official website