Restoring Splendor: The Architecture of New York Synagogues
Dr. Samuel D. Gruber
Temple Emanu-El
More than 300 people turned out to hear world-renowned architectural historian, archaeologist and historic preservationist, Dr. Samuel D. Gruber, present an illustrated lecture titled Restoring Splendor: The Architecture of New York Synagogues at the spectacular Temple Emanu-El in Manhattan.
As part of the 25th anniversary year of the Conservancy’s Sacred Sites program, the event marked the second in a series of activities designed to highlight the importance of preserving, protecting and celebrating the rich cultural heritage of New York’s religious institutions and the critical social services they provide their congregations and neighborhoods.
Conservancy President, Peg Breen, started the evening with a summary of the Conservancy’s Sacred Sites program. Rabbi Amy B. Ehrlich of Temple Emanu-El gave welcoming remarks before Dr. Gruber took to the podium.
Calling himself a “groupie” of the Conservancy and a “big fan” of Temple Emanu-El, Dr. Gruber began his talk on a personal note. The historian described how a $4,000 Sacred Sites grant helped his synagogue, Temple Concord in Syracuse, restore exterior masonry and leverage $40,000 in funding for continued work.
“A little grant at the right time and the right place with the right problem makes a big, big difference and this is how the Landmarks Conservancy has always worked,” he said.
The noted preservationist knows first-hand that it takes “a strong congregation with vision to get behind the hard work of fundraising, planning, outreach and elbow grease” to restore sacred sites.
“This is a long, long process… You need optimism because you are looking at the past, but you are doing it because you are looking toward the future.”
“The actual act of taking on the task of preservation is an act of commitment and even an act of faith in your community and in your religion,” he said.
Dr. Gruber highlighted some of the 530 synagogues recently surveyed by Sacred Sites as a way to illustrate the “diversity” and “vitality” of American Judaism and the architecture of New York Synagogues. He took the audience through the development of synagogue architectural styles in New York relating them to movements in Judaism.
“This [Sacred Sites] survey is a phenomenal undertaking. I have led synagogue surveys in Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Romania—we knew more about the synagogues in those countries than we did in the five boroughs of New York until this year.”
“The Sacred Sites Synagogue Survey is an amazing undertaking that people have been talking about for years and it has finally been done. It is the first page in a new history of understanding the architectural legacy of Judaism in New York and it’s going to be the first page in protecting that heritage for the future,” Dr. Gruber said.
Tours of the Main Sanctuary, adjacent Beth-El Chapel and the Herbert and Eileen Bernard Museum of Judaica were held by senior curator Elka Deitsch and temple administrator Mark Heutlinger.
The event was generously underwritten by Beyer Blinder Belle Architects and Planners LLP along with the following host committee: Eric Michael Anton; Rev. Canon George W. Brandt, Jr.; Lance Jay Brown, FAIA; Joan Capelin, Hon. AIA, Fellow PRSA; Michele Cohn Tocci; Michael J. Crosbie, Ph.D., AIA; Elka Deitsch; Rabbi Amy B. Ehrlich; Toni Goodale; David Paul Helpern, FAIA; Rev. John A. Kamas; Rev. Dr. Thomas F. Pike; Rabbi Dr. David M. Posner; Judy Wesalo Temel and Charles S. Temel; Marcia Waxman; and Lloyd Zuckerberg.
Samuel D. Gruber earned his bachelor’s degree in medieval studies at Princeton University and a doctorate in art history and archaeology from Columbia University. He is author of Synagogues (Metrobooks, 1999) and American Synagogues: a Century of Architecture and the Jewish Community (Rizzoli, 2003) and teaches courses on architecture and Jewish visual culture in Judaic Studies at Syracuse University. He is president of the not-for-profit International Survey of Jewish Monuments.
Temple Emanu-El’s history dates back to the founding of the congregation in 1845 by a small group of German-Jewish immigrants who settled on New York’s Lower East Side. As the congregation increased in size and affluence, its leadership opted to move worship services to larger and grander sites further uptown. In the mid-1920s, Emanu-El Congregation consolidated with Temple Beth-El, and construction of the magnificent site at Fifth Avenue and 65th Street was begun in 1927 and completed in 1929.
Temple Emanu-El was the recipient of a 2006 Lucy G. Moses Preservation Award, the Landmarks Conservancy’s highest honor for outstanding restoration efforts. Click here for more information on the upcoming Moses Awards, April 27, and to purchase tickets.
Sacred Sites was launched in 1986 and today remains the only nonprofit statewide program in the country responding with both financial and technical assistance to the preservation needs of historic religious properties.
Sacred Sites has disbursed 1,115 grants totaling more than $6.7 million to 660 congregations of all denominations throughout New York, including 193 grants to religious institutions in the City. These grants have leveraged an astounding $497 million in restoration projects.
In addition to their universal and exalted beauty, sacred institutions provide life-saving community services such as food banks and homeless shelters and essential programs for seniors and children.
