251 West 100th Street, aka 251-257 West 100th Street; 824-830 West End Avenue

251 West 100th Street, aka 251-257 West 100th Street; 824-830 West End Avenue

NB Number: NB 622-1926

Type:  Religious

Architect:  Edward I Shire

Developer/Owner/Builder: Congregation Temple Ansche Chesed

NYC Landmarks Designation:  Historic District

Landmark Designation Report: Riverside Drive– West End Historic District Extension II

National Register Designation: N/A

Primary Style:  Byzantine Revival

Primary Facade:   Brick and Limestone

Stories: 1; 6

Window Type/Material: Stained Glass/See Structure

Structure:  Significant Architectural Features: Brick facade with limestone and brick detailing, chamfered at corner; granite stoop; three bay, arched limestone portal with brick details, Star of David in central tympana; double-leaf, wood doors with leaded glass lights; band course with inscription; three stained glass windows set within brick and limestone arches and separated by ornately decorated pilasters; single stained glass windows with limestone columns supporting a brick arch; segmental arched pediment crowned by a Star of David and the Ten Commandments; possibly historic lights. West facade of community building partially designed with corner turret with limestone details and tile roof;

Building Notes: The Ansche Chesed Synagogue was constructed in a toned-down Byzantine style popular for synagogues in the 1920s and inspired by the discovery of Byzantine era Jewish ruins during this time in the Middle East. On this structure, the Byzantine influence is clearly expressed in the use of bricks of variegated sizes, often intricately laid, and detailed brick lattice work over several window openings. Large blank walls only seldom interrupted by narrow windows and areas of decoration are also indicative of the style, as are the intricate limestone carvings on the pilasters of the primary (West End Avenue) facade and the roofed tower. Construction of the building as a synagogue complex with both religious and secular uses such as classrooms, a library, and a ballroom, was a new and contemporary trend in synagogue design that continues today. Though plans were filed in 1926, construction did not commence until March 1927 (completed March 1928). Reference(s): Samuel D. Gruber, Synagogues (New York, NY: MetroBooks, 1999); Rachel Wischnitzer, Synagogue Architecture in the United States: History and Interpretation (Philadelphia, PA: The Jewish Publication Society of America, 1955), 108.

Site Features: Fence and gate across service alley topped by barbed wire

Notable History and Residents: Founded in 1829, Congregation Ansche Chesed was the third Jewish congregation to be established in New York and the first to locate on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Though a Conservative congregation today, the large and influential congregation, comprised primarily of German, Dutch and Polish Jews, was also the second group in New York to embrace the Jewish Reform movement. The congregation’s first purpose built synagogue at 172-176 Norfolk Street (a designated New York City Landmark) is the oldest surviving structure built as a synagogue in New York City. The congregation occupied at least five different buildings throughout Manhattan over the course of its nearly 200 year existence, ultimately settling in the 1920s on the Upper West Side, which by then had become a center for New York’s Jewish community. Reference(s): LPC, Anshe Slonim Synagogue (originally Anshe Chesed Synagogue) Designation Report (LP-1440) (New York: City of New York, 1987), by Virginia Kurshan; LPC, Research Files

North Facade: Partially designed (historic) (partially visible) Facade Notes: Stained-glass windows; decorative elements at return and first bay; brick, patched and repointed; camera with conduit; fences and enclosures on roofs of sanctuary and community building; wires

South Facade: Designed (historic) Facade Notes: Similar to primary facade; small single stained-glass window with limestone columns; five bays of windows, paired at basement and first story, with limestone details; possibly historic grilles at basement, non-historic grilles at first story; large arched stained glass windows with limestone surrounds with brick detailing; basket weave brick spandrels; brick and limestone detailing below roofline; six story tower on eastern end: arched limestone entrance with double doors and brick tympana with grille; brickwork grilles; brick and limestone decoration at second story windows and third story spandrel; arched windows at sixth story with blind tympana and brick decoration; corner turret with limestone detailing and tiled roof. Alterations: cameras and lights with conduits; display boxes; signage; louvered vents at basement; ramp/stoop with pipe railings, one section lifts to provide access to diamond plate hatch; chain link fence at roof Site: concrete sidewalk; stone curb

East Facade: Not designed (historic) (partially visible) Facade Notes: Brick, patched and repointed; windows replaced; fence on roof; bulkhead; painted sign on tower “Temple Ansche Chesed Community House

Historic District: Riverside-West End Historic District Extension II

Alterations: Siamese hose connection; cameras with conduit; stoop railings; display box; fence and enclosure on top of the community building; bulkhead and vent on roof of sanctuary