Eduard Knoblauch designed the synagogue, and after he died in 1865 Friedrich August Stüler took over most of the construction, the interior arrangement and the design. Groundbreaking was in 1859, and it was inaugurated in 1866 with Otto von Bismarck present.
The style is Moorish Revival, often compared to the Alhambra. A central gilded-ribbed dome is flanked by two smaller pavilion-style domes. The walls are polychrome brickwork with terracotta and colored glazed bricks, and early iron construction appears in the columns and the dome.
On November 9 and 10, 1938 a mob broke in and set fires, and a police officer ordered the arsonists to disperse so the fire brigade could extinguish the blaze. Bombing in November 1943 burned the building, and the ruined rear sections, including the prayer hall, were demolished in 1958. The street front and dome were restored from 1988 to 1993 as the Centrum Judaicum.
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