CULTURE AND SOCIETY

Museum at Eldridge Street

The Orthodox synagogue on Eldridge Street, completed in September 1887, was designed by architects Peter Herter and Francis William Herter in Moorish Revival style with some Gothic elements.
The façade is divided into three parts and the central part has a triangular tympanum, a large rose window, five windows symbolizing the five books of the Torah and a portico with Moorish Revival columns.
The interior, with three naves and a ceiling over 21 m high, is decorated with stained glass windows, elaborate brass frames, inlaid wood and frescoed walls.
For about fifty years it was frequented both as a place of worship and as a reference point for new immigrants. After 1929, following the Great Depression and the approval of more restrictive immigration laws, the synagogue was less and less used. In addition, after the war the community began to move to new suburbs and the synagogue was gradually abandoned. From 1955 to 1980 it remained virtually unused and was subject to increasing degradation until in 1980 the building was included in the National Register of Historic Places as a monument of historical and cultural interest. In 1986 a foundation, The Eldridge Street Project, was created with the aim of restoring the building and converting it into a museum. After 20 years of work, on December 2, 2007, the Museum at Eldridge Street opened to the public and now operates as a religious, cultural and educational center.
There are guided tours every hour from 10:00am to 4pm.

References

Kenneth T. Jackson, Lisa Keller, Nancy Flood. The Encyclopedia of New York City: Second Edition. Yale University Press, 2010. p. 404
Gerard R. Wolfe. New York, a Guide to the Metropolis: Walking Tours of Architecture and History. McGraw-Hill, 1994, 2° ed. p. 146
History of the Eldridge Street Synagogue (Museum at Eldridge Street)
Sinagoga Eldridge Street di New York (Wikipedia)