Feature
Story & Photos by Robert Shurell
After 25 years of abandonment, an old synagogue at Bush and Laguna streets in Japantown has recently found a new way to serve as a community center. With the addition of a new building, the former temple has become the Kokoro Assisted Living Center, providing seniors with shelter, as well as connections to their friends and family in the community. The community aspect of the project is perhaps its most appealing.
A Handsome Building, a Tumultuous History
The building at 1881 Bush St. was designed by Moses Lyon for the Ohabai Shalome (Lovers of Peace) congregation and constructed in 1895. In a neighborhood of typical San Francisco Victorian homes, the building was a departure from the norm, in that it adopted a Moorish Venetian style. This is most evident in the second-story loggia with a colonnade of inflexed gothic arches and quatrefoils above. This exact design is seen in the Palazzo Ducale (Doge’s Palace) at Piazza San Marco in Venice, Italy. The fourteenth-century palazzo was constructed as a statement of Venice’s power as the leading trading center of the Mediterranean. Beyond the obvious differences in scale, use and proportion, a comparison of the buildings brings up a curious question: at what point did facadism extend beyond its reaches and become meaningless theatre? Early, it may be argued—perhaps stretching back to the decline of the Gothic and rise of the Renaissance, lasting through to the eventual rise of Modernism.
The synagogue's surprise, saved until you are right up on the sidewalk in front of it, is a façade of redwood. Expertly detailed to portray stone, a casual observer may not notice nail heads in the stone coursing, or the mitered joints of the carved column capitals. Lyon's genius was to use the prevalent local material (redwood) to convey his idea. The problem is that an imitation of an Italian Gothic palace façade may be assuming liberties better left to the Italians. This is a recurring gripe of Victorian design by historians: styles were freely borrowed upon and mixed together lightly. The unifying ideas of historical styles, and their purity, was diluted and lost on Victorian design. It wasn't until the rise of the machine, and with it modernism, many argue, that a purity and unity of style was again achieved.
Lyon's synagogue, for all its façadism, is a handsome, well-proportioned amenity to the street and community. It served as a synagogue for nearly forty years. But, in 1934, it was converted to a religious home for a Buddhist sect. A Christian congregation followed, and finally Shunryu Suzuki Roshi founded the San Francisco Zen Center there in the 1960s. By the 1970s, it was shuttered and abandoned. During the years that it sat vacant, various physical infirmities came to pass, as will happen to unused buildings (it is generally acknowledged that vacant buildings age twice as fast as those kept usefully occupied). The roof deteriorated and allowed moisture to enter the building envelope, creating a mold habitat and rotting the framing members; the exterior walls began to bow out; and the brick foundation settled and required replacement.
The San Francisco Redevelopment Agency sold the historic landmark to The Japanese American Religious Federation Assisted Living Facility, Inc. (JALFI) for $1 in 1997, giving them a boost toward accomplishing their goal of creating a community-based senior living facility for Japantown. This noble effort was supported by $2.8 million in community funds donated towards development costs. The rest of the $14 million development cost came from a $5.7 million SFRA grant, and a $7 million mortgage from NCB Development Corporation (an affiliate of National Cooperative Bank). Construction was completed on the rehabilitated synagogue and the new, attached six-story housing structure in 2003.
An Emphasis on Community
The new building, an understated design clad in foam panels and aluminum windows, contains most of the 54 lodging units. The one-bedroom units are available for double occupancy, along with some of the studios. Couples are given preference for the one-bedroom units.
The historic synagogue is broken into several functions. Near the street is a well-used community gathering space; it resembles a large alcove with windows overlooking the sidewalk. (One of the reasons senior facilities are so useful to a community is that they achieve "eyes on the street," or the ability to keep tabs on what is going on in the immediate area out in the world.) The ground floor of the main space is a community dining area. This room, in addition to being the main foodservice area, is an activity room opening directly onto an outdoor patio, the vertical circulation areas and a professional kitchen for meal preparation (Japanese or American fare is offered at each meal). At the far end of the main space is a carved wooden screen, and above that is a mezzanine gallery. Up on the gallery level, one finds a small library, exercise equipment, lounge areas and some staff office cubicles. Another community area is located on the upper level at the rear.
Despite lodging costs ranging from $3,100 per month for studios to $5,400 per month for one-bedroom units (plus up to $900 per month per resident for assisted living services), several months after opening JALFI realized that the mortgage repayment schedule drawn up by its lender did not work in practice, and the organization was unable to make its mortgage payments (around $40,000 per month). The board of JALFI deliberated about this deficit in secret throughout 2005, in an attempt to not disrupt the daily functioning of the facility, and to keep the residents from worrying about their futures. Finally, in early 2006, the board announced that it was entering into exclusive negotiations with OnLok, a local senior care provider, for ownership of the facility.
The announcement was met with outrage by the community, who felt betrayed by JALFI leadership, not only because they hadn't been informed of any problems, but because the ownership and management of the facility was leaving the local community. This ownership and management was one of the original driving principles of the project.
Therefore, after months of negotiation and meeting with community leaders, JALFI and the SFRA developed a plan wherein the SFRA would repurchase the property for $5 million, which would be used to pay down the $7 million NCB mortgage. JALFI (now called Kokoro Assisted Living Inc.) would negotiate a new mortgage with Union Bank of California for the remaining $2 million, bringing the mortgage payment down to about $15,000 per month, which it could afford.
While it is unfortunate that Kokoro was subject to a bad financial deal, there is a lot to be thankful for. The deterioration of the old synagogue has been halted. San Francisco seniors, many of whom are Japanese and suffered through the internment camps during WWII, have a convenient, community-oriented place to live and relax during their old age. The SFRA, though it cost them an extra $5 million, recognized a good deal when they saw it. SFRA President Richard Peterson and its commissioners are to be commended for supporting a true neighborhood-serving amenity, such as this senior center, for Japantown.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the viewpoint of SFAA or SF Apartment Magazine. Robert Shurell is a licensed architect with Chong Partners Architecture, a firm specializing in architecture that serves the needs of our communities in the fields of education, healthcare, transportation, and civic and cultural facilities. Feel free to contact him with questions or comments at rshurell@chongpartners.com. Copyright © 2007 by SF Apartment Magazine. All rights reserved.