The Gates of Heaven Synagogue (1863), the eighth-oldest synagogue building in the United States, was designed for Madison's Jewish congregation by local architect August Kutzbock in "Rundbogenstil", a nineteenth-century German form of Romanesque revival. Kutzbock, a recent German immigrant, also used this distinctive style for the Pierce and Van Slyke Houses in the adjacent Mansion Hill district. The synagogue was later repurposed to serve as the Unitarian Society Meeting House, the Women's Christian Temperance Union, other churches, and a funeral home. In 1971 it was saved from demolition through the efforts of local citizens and moved from its original location at 214 W. Washington Avenue to James Madison Park. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1970. The stone benches in front of the building were added by the Madison Parks Department in 2009.