The building currently known as "Beth Am" was first founded as Chizuk Amuno Congregation. The
Byzantine-
Moorish structure at 2501 Eutaw Place, built in 1922, was designed by renowned local architect
Joseph Evans Sperry. The stone, triple-arched building was reportedly modeled after
Tempio Maggiore, the Great Synagogue of
Florence. Chizuk Amuno first occupied the building in 1922 and moved to a new location in
Pikesville in 1958. Following the move of Chizuk Amuno, services continued in the building, led by Cantor Abba Weisgall. Then, in 1974, the current Beth Am congregation was founded as "Kaplan's Shul" by Dr. Louis L. Kaplan, retired president of
Baltimore Hebrew University, and other congregants who wanted to remain in the neighborhood. Kaplan served informally as the congregation's spiritual leader until 1981, when the congregation hired its first full-time rabbi, Rabbi Earl Jordan. The first president of the congregation was Efrem Potts, Louis L. Kaplan's son-in-law through his marriage to Deborah Kaplan Potts. The congregation had no full-time rabbi in the years 2000–2002, when they were served part-time by Rabbi Sheila Russian, who in 1979 had become the first female rabbi in Baltimore. In 2019 the synagogue underwent a major $5.5 million renovation that added new classrooms, a grand new staircase, and a redesigned sanctuary. The renovation was awarded the 2020 Baltimore Heritage Preservation Award. ==Leadership==