6. Artists in the synagogue, 87 Eldridge Street
87 Eldridge Street was once the home of congregation, Bnai Tifereth Yerushalaim, which purchased the property in 1888. Originally built as a tenement apartment in 1874, the building served the congregation until the 1960’s and was then acquired by the Syrian Orthodox institution Achim Aram Zobah (Association of Syrian Rites). It was later sold to an African Methodist Episcopal Church, which occupied the building until the late 70’s.
In the 1970’s, abstract-expressionist artist, Milton Resnik, bought the building and converted it into his studio and residency. His wife, Pat Passlof, also an artist, lived and worked in her own synagogue. After Milton died in 2004, Pat lead the initiative to create a foundation to honor her husband’s life and work. In 2015, the Milton Resnick and Pat Passlof Foundation was established. The primary aim of the foundation is the preservation, exhibition, and publication of works by Resnick (1917-2004) and Passlof (1928-2011), and other painters working out of that tradition. The former main sanctuary of the synagogue, where Resnick painted his signature works in the 1970s-90s, will be maintained mostly as a showplace for Resnick’s own work.