The Congregation Anshe Chesed building at 172 Norfolk Street (now the Angel Orensanz Foundation) not only is New York’s oldest surviving synagogue (erected 1850) and one of its largest (capacity 1,200) but also was the first building on the Lower East Side erected specifically as a synagogue. The designer was Berlin-born Alexander Saeltzer, architect of the old Astor Library (now the Public Theater) on Lafayette Street, who modeled it after the monumental Gothic-style cathedral of Cologne.
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- dave 7-20-2001 4:36 pm
- anonymous (guest) 5-08-2003 10:06 pm [add a comment]