Kehila Kedosha Janina, 280 Broome Street, Lower East Side, Manhattan
Kehila Kedosha Janina, 280 Broome Street, Lower East Side, Manhattan
Kehila Kedosha JaninaKehila Kedosha Janina is one of a kind. It is the only community of Romaniote Jews in America and one of the last remaining Romaniote synagogues in the world. Distinguished by their traditional Greek rites, a group of Romaniotes emigrated from Greece and established a congregation in 1906. The synagogue offers traditional Romaniote services and houses a museum dedicated to the history and culture of the 2,000-year-old Romaniote Jewish Community.
Like many Lower East Side synagogues of the early 1900s, the vernacular temple at 280 Broome Street was designed with Classical and Moorish influences. It features a three-bay facade, central entrance, a reference to corner towers, and tablets containing the Ten Commandments. The building needed substantial restoration, including replacement of wood and stained glass windows, cleaning and repointing of the buffcolored brick facade, and roof replacement.
The New York Landmarks Conservancy, the Lower East Side Conservancy, and the congregation collaborated to successfully restore the building. As a result, Kehila Kedosha Janina was listed in the National Register of Historic Places and awarded a grant of $50,000 from the State’s Environmental Protection Fund, a highly competitive grant process. The Historic Properties Fund matched the State grant with a grant of $10,000 and a loan of $70,000. Another $10,000 from the Landmarks Conservancy’s Sacred Sites Fund completed the necessary financing.
Just in time for services for the Jewish High Holy Days, the restoration work was completed in the fall of 2003, but it was just one aspect of Janina’s recent revival. The synagogue has experienced a tremendous renewal of interest from the local community and from Romaniote Jews across the country.
We honored this restoration with our Lucy G. Moses Preservation award, and one year later, the Landmarks Preservation Commission and City Council designated Kehila Kadosha Janina Synagogue a landmark.
