This article is about the art and performance space. For the Jewish synagogue co-located on this site, see The Shul of New York. For the Jewish congregation that was located on this site, see Ansche Chesed.
Angel Orensanz Center
The Angel Orensanz Center, housed within a former synagogue
From 1849 to 1974, at various stages, the building has been used as a synagogue.[7][8][9] and then, following vandalism, acquired by the government of New York City (1981), after which it was sold to a succession of owners: Hungarian Development, Inc. (1983), Seashells, Inc. (1984), and finally Angel Lopez Orensanz (1986).[10] Spanish sculptor and painter Angel Orensanz purchased the property in 1986, about after 12 years after its last synagogue-owners had abandoned its use. He restored it and converted it into an art gallery and performance space known as the Angel Orensanz Foundation Center for the Arts. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the building as a historic landmark the following year. It subsequently became home to The Shul of New York, a liberal non-denominational synagogue.[7]: 15
The building is 70 feet (21 m) wide by 90 feet (27 m) deep. It has a main space of 7,000 square feet (650 m2) (and an assembly room of 4,000 square feet (370 m2)) and 50-foot (15 m) high cathedral blue ceilings.[1][13] It has pointed arch tall lancet windows (originally surrounded by trefoil tracery and moldings) and doorways (surrounded by parts of moldings showing engaged columns and foliate capitals).[1][11] Its larger center door is crowned by triangular molding that is almost as high as the second floor, which contains a Magen David with thin pinnacles on either side.[1] It also has interior wooden vaults and several balconies (one of which houses Angel Orensanz's studio).[1][11] It has a tripartite front facade of red stone brick, covered with stucco, framed at its top by a pointed gable.[1][11] Originally, the building was three stories high and topped by concave pyramidal roofs with finials atop them; today, it is two stories high and topped by buttressed, clearly differentiated side square towers on either side of the center section.[1] The towers were an unusual feature at the time they were built, containing articulated stairwells to the galleries.[1] Its original ceiling was deep blue, with gold stars.[12]
The building was designated a New York City Historic Landmark in 1987.[1][14]
The synagogue was built by Congregation Ansche Chesed (People of Kindness), at time known as Anshe Slonim,[1] the third Jewish congregation in New York City,[1][5] Congregation Ansche Chesed purchased the three lots upon which the synagogue was built, at 172 Norfolk Street (between Stanton Street and East Houston Street), on the Lower East Side of New York City in April 1849 for $10,500 (today $385,000).[1] The lots had originally been part of Peter Stuyvesant's estate.[1]
The synagogue building was designed by Eisenach (Germany)-born architect Alexander Saeltzer, who was engaged in February 1849. Saeltzer also later designed the original Astor Library (now The Public Theater) in 1851 and the Academy of Music on Astor Place in 1854.[1][5][15][16] The synagogue's Gothic Revival style was inspired by the Cologne Cathedral in Cologne, Germany, and Friedrichswerdersche Kirche in Berlin.[5][17] According to a 1987 report by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, while Gothic architecture is closely associated with Christianity, it had also become popular with synagogues as Jewish congregations had taken over old church buildings and become accustomed to the style and viewed it as just as appropriate as any other architectural style.[1] The building opened in 1849 as Anshe Chesed Synagogue and was also known as the Norfolk Street Congregation.[18]
After Ansche Chesed left in 1874,[7][1] the synagogue was used by several Eastern European Orthodox Jewish congregations, which reconfigured the space to the more traditional orientation and removed the organ.[5] These included Congregation Shaari Rachmim (1873–1886),[1][5][7] The First Hungarian Congregation Ohab Zedek (1886–1921).[1][5] and Sheveth Achim Anshe Slonim (1921–1974), the latter of whom called it Anshe Slonim Synagogue.[7][8][19] By 1974, the Slonim community had dispersed,[1] and the synagogue building was abandoned and was vandalized.[1][5][20]
Recent history
Jewish Spanish sculptor and painter Angel Orensanz purchased the property in 1986. He restored it and converted it into an art gallery and performance space, the Angel Orensanz Foundation for the Arts, which he operated along with his brother, Al.[5][21][22] The building was designated an historic landmark by New York City in 1987.[1][5][23][14][24]
The Shul of New York, a liberal Reform synagogue organized in 1997 that was founded by Rabbi Emeritus Burt Siegel who originally held the Shul's Shabbat services at the synagogue and they still hold Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur services there.[12][23][25] Rabbi Susan Falk has led The Shul of New York since 2021. The Shul's services are accompanied by the Shul Band, led by Adam Feder. It is the oldest standing synagogue in New York City.[1][26]