Beth Hamedrash Hagodol Magcgite

History and architecture

Striking in, profile, this smooth-faced stone Synagogue is an interesting example of modified Gothic Revival architecture. Raised on a platform of steps above the street, the recessed center section of the symmetrical facade is flanked by square towers pierbed by coupled pointed arched windows that light the side vestibules. The dominant feature of this structure is the main, double entrance door with over-door panel joining it to the tall tripartite arched window, surmounted by a pedimented roof, affixed with the Star of David. A handsome horizontal band of Gothic quatrafoil design meets the spring of the arch of the large central Gothic window and enriches the rather plain facade. At the top of each tower is a square decorative panel of Gothic quatrefoil design.

This great Synagogue has long been considered a landmark by the Greater New York Board of Rabbis, by the Union of Orthodox Congregations of the United States representing three thousand congregations and by the citizens of the community. The Synagogue is noted especially for the services it has rendered to the many orthodox Jews from eastern European countries who migrated to the United States during the late Nineteenth and early Twentieth Centuries.

Congregation Beth Hamedrash Hagodol is the oldest Russian Orthodox Synagogue in the country. Founded in 1852, its first building was on Allen street. The present Synagogue was acquired' June 17, 1885 from the Methodist Church and remodeled that year. The congregation has an enrollment of 100 members and serves more than 250,000 worshippers annually from the entire country. The earliest rabbi was the Russian-trained Abraham Joseph Ash, a successful manufacturer who served without pay until 1873.

The building, now occupied by Beth Hamedrash Hagodol Synagogue, was dedicated in January 1850 as the Norfolk Street Baptist Church. As the neighborhood changed and the city moved uptown so did the Baptists. In 1860 the Methodists purchased the church and kept possession of the property until 1885. An early print published in the New York Almanac of 1851 shows that the towers of the church originally had battlements or crenulations, which were removed from the building when it was remodeled.