Angel Orensanz Center

The building's interior resembles that of the Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris. The sanctuary was designed to resemble the Sistine Chapel. The building is wide by deep. It has a main space of (and an assembly room of ) and high cathedral blue ceilings. 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). 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. It also has interior wooden vaults and several balconies (one of which houses Angel Orensanz's studio). It has a tripartite front facade of red stone brick, covered with stucco, framed at its top by a pointed gable. 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. The towers were an unusual feature at the time they were built, containing articulated stairwells to the galleries. Its original ceiling was deep blue, with gold stars. The building was designated a New York City Historic Landmark in 1987. == History ==

Early history The synagogue was built by Congregation Ansche Chesed (People of Kindness), at time known as Anshe Slonim, 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 $). The synagogue's Gothic Revival style was inspired by the Cologne Cathedral in Cologne, Germany, and Friedrichswerdersche Kirche in Berlin. 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. After Ansche Chesed left in 1874, By 1974, the Slonim community had dispersed, 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. The building was designated an historic landmark by New York City in 1987. 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. 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. In 1994, the controversial Andres Serrano-directed music video for Godflesh's song "Crush My Soul" was filmed in the center. Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick were married there in 1997. Mandy Patinkin's Mamaloshen was also performed there, and Nobel Prize winner Elie Wiesel, poet Maya Angelou, playwright Arthur Miller, actress Tyne Daly, composer Philip Glass, and singers Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey have performed there. The same year, the center was used in the filming of an episode of Jessica Jones. Photographer Daniel Hastings used the interior of the synagogue as the backdrop for the cover art for the Wu-Tang Clan's 1993 album Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers). In 2014, the building was closed for fear that the balcony would collapse, and it did not reopen for nearly a year. ==References==