Designed by Ernst Friedrich Zwirner in the Moorish Revival style, the synagogue was completed in 1861 and destroyed by Nazis on November 9, 1938, during Kristallnacht.

Zwirner, the architect of the Cologne Cathedral, built the synagogue on the site of the former Monastery of St. Clarissa, where a modest hall of prayer had been erected in the years of the French occupation and was closed in 1853 because it was unsafe.

In consequence of the removal, the four towers on the outside pillars were dismantled and only restored in 1925, while the replacement of the copper covering was postponed for financial reasons.

[2]: 285  The central position of the bimah shows that the Jewish community was attached to the old tradition, while the Roonstrasse Synagogue had a new floor plan, that was developed according to the Reform Judaism beliefs.

[2]: 287 A low wing of the entrance hall was built with five rooms in front of the square building structure on the street side.

A tall, protruding risalit was flanked on both sides by wings and was terminated on top by a merlon rim.

[2]: 284  The four Byzantine cross arms of the same length of the synagogue were all equipped with a barrel vault,[2]: 290  in which the truss, the columns and the arches were made of cast iron.

[2]: 291 The ladies galleries were supported by six columns, that owing to the iron construction had a very fine and graceful form,[2]: 290  while the balustrade was decorated with stucco by Hartzheim and painted in gold by Petri.

"[1]: 242 The Aaron haKodesch had been made by the Cologne sculptor Stephan, he used Carrara white marble and placed in the middle of the shrine a horse shoe arch.

[2]: 291  Furthermore, Stephan inserted the capitals from Alhambra and the minaret tower composition with onion cupolas from the façade around the Aaron haKodesch.