KAM Isaiah Israel Congregation, Chicago, Detail of Decoration at the Balcony Level

Chicago-born architect Alfred S. Alschuler was a prominent figure in the city’s flourishing architecture scene in the first half of the twentieth century. He designed warehouses, department stores, industrial and office buildings, and synagogues. His design for the synagogue now known as KAM Isaiah Israel in the Kenwood neighborhood, across the street from President Barack Obama’s family home, is in the Byzantine style and was inspired by photographs of the second-century Severus synagogue that was excavated in Tiberias.