5. 58-60 Rivington Street Synagogue
58-60 Rivington Street used to house a Romanian synagogue operating under the name First Warschauer Congregation. In 1886, a group of Romanian Jews established the congregation Kehal Adath Yeshurin of Yassay at 131 Hester Street, and in 1903, the congregation planned an upgrade for 58-60 Rivington. Emery Roth — the architect behind dozens of New York buildings like The San Remo, The Beresford and the Ritz Tower — was commissioned to create a new synagogue in the Moorish Revival style, relating back to the pre-Inquisition period in Spain. The interior plan included two separate women balconies, and the sanctuary could accommodate up to 500 worshippers. In 1904, the congregation’s sacred Torah scrolls were marched in a four-hour parade to the new location, with as many as 300 policemen escorting the thousands of marchers.
Among the synagogue’s most prominent congregants were George and Ira Gershwin, who both grew up on Eldridge Street, Republican New York Senator Jacob Javits, co-founded of MGM and film producer Samuel Goldwyn, and comedian George Burns. The American Jewish Federation sponsored an event there “to combat fascism and communism” in 1938. Following the Holocaust, the congregation grew in size as Eastern European immigrants settled on the Lower East Side. Yet the synagogue also faced financial struggles just a few years later, as many families left the area for better housing elsewhere in the city. By 1973, the building was vacant, and six years later, the SoHo-based sculptor Hale Gurland transformed the space into artist studios and living quarters. The building’s facade, which features rows of alternating beige and reddish bricks as well as a central spiral window, still remains intact.