My grandfather’s architectural work

Posted on July 13, 2008 by | 3 Comments

Here are some old photos of the Ashkenazi synagogue that my grandfather designed and built some time between the two World Wars. This is just one of the many buildings he built in Sarajevo at that time, including the first skyscraper in the Balkans. This is the first time I see these pictures and I will try to find more information about the building later:
Update: Apparently some or all of the information above is erroneous. While my grandfather built a lot of buildings in and around Sarajevo, the synagogue was not one of them – perhaps another building in these pictures? The person who wrote a book about my grandfather’s work is probably the only one to really know, and he has been difficult to track down recently.
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3 responses to “My grandfather’s architectural work”

  1. The Olive Ridley Crawl's avatar The Olive Ridley Crawl | July 13, 2008 at 8:16 pm |

    That’s the nice thing about having an architect in the family, you might actually get to tour their work many years later! Are the pictures current? Did his work survive the many bombings and wars? Cool stuff.

  2. themadlolscientist's avatar themadlolscientist | July 14, 2008 at 12:48 am |

    Judging from the blue car in the third photo from the bottom, I’d say they’re pretty recent.
    One thing that really caught my eye, though, was the New Year’s greeting on the second picture. L’shanah Tovah Tikatevu is one of the vanishingly small number of Hebrew phrases I can recognize without all the vowel signs. (OK, maybe it doesn’t take much to turn some people on. But we Baptists weren’t terribly big on Hebrew when I was growing up.)
    This is a beautiful building. I hope to see more! And a very premature Happy New Year to you too.

  3. Coturnix's avatar Coturnix | July 14, 2008 at 1:05 am |

    I think the first one was taken in 1955, I have no idea about the date of the postcard (it could be even older), while the rest are more recent. I will ask about the year in which they were taken.