Old Town Cape recognizes Riverside Pottery with historic rehabilitation award

Riverside Pottery was named Old Town Cape’s 2020 John Boardman Excellence in Historic Rehabilitation Award recipient Wednesday afternoon.

According to the announcement from Old Town Cape, Rob Lorenz — Riverside’s owner — purchased the former B’Nai Israel Synagogue at 121 S. Main St. to house the new business in 2020.

The synagogue was built in 1937 to replace the Jewish community’s existing meeting place and was used for religious purposes into the 1970s. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2004. In 2012, Lighthouse United International Ministries, led by Adrian Taylor, moved in, and in 2019, the congregation moved to the present location at 710 Southern Expressway.

“When we were looking for buildings this wasn’t even on our radar,” Lorenz said in the Old Town Cape video accompanying the announcement. “The real estate agent we were working with showed it to us before it was on the market. We were always looking for an older building that we could fix up a little bit, something that had a little more character. This building really seemed to fit the bill.”

Lorenz is credited with maintaining the building’s historical integrity, and believes historical rehabilitation is crucial to the revitalization of downtown Cape Girardeau.

“If the buildings are run down, if they’re falling apart, nobody’s going to want to come down and be in the area,” Lorenz said. “Making sure the buildings are taken care of and rehabilitated is very, very important.”

Riverside Pottery offers several pottery classes, workshops and private lessons. For more information visit riversidepotterystudio.com.

Old Town Cape will present more awards each day this week. To view videos and read announcements of award recipients, visit www.Facebook.com/OldTownCape.

Old Town Cape awards schedule:

• Today — Judith Ann Crow Residential Rehabilitation Award
• Friday — Resiliency Award
• Saturday — Charles L. Hutson Visionary Award.