Please join the Center for Architecture and hosts John DeFazio, AIA (Architect & Associate Professor @ Drexel University) and Nick Groch, Assoc. AIA, for an entertaining evening of classic film related to architecture. This ongoing, monthly series shows films that explore ideas and themes on architecture and architects, though not necessarily directly. Discussion is encouraged.

This month's film will be "An American Synagogue" (2009), narrated by Leonard Nimoy.

"'An American Synagogue: Frank Lloyd Wright, Mortimer Cohen and The Making of Beth Sholom' explores the history of the only synagogue designed by the legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Located in Elkins Park, PA, Beth Sholom is a National Historic Landmark which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2009.

The film tells the remarkable story of this landmark structure, which arose through the fruitful relationship between Frank Lloyd Wright -- then in his eighties and at the peak of his fame as America’s most prominent architect -- and the synagogue’s charismatic leader, Rabbi Mortimer Cohen. Their relationship comes to life through the extraordinary, years-long correspondence between the two men, quoted in voice-over by character actors during the film. The letters show these two very different personalities uniting in the common goal of a new concept in American synagogue architecture. The film draws on a wealth of visual materials, including original architectural drawings and construction stills, as well as evocative period footage.

Leonard Nimoy of Star Trek fame, who narrates the film, is also well known for his work promoting and preserving Jewish heritage and culture - serving on an advisory board of the National Foundation for Jewish Culture, funding a recording project for the National Yiddish Book Center and sponsoring the Temple Israel concerts, among other endeavors."