Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Board Wants Fire-Ravaged Lower East Side Shul To Be Demolished

NEW YORK (JTA) — A historic synagogue on Manhattan’s Lower East Side ravaged by a fire last month may soon be demolished.

NY 1 reported that the local community board approved a proposal to tear down the Beth Hamedrash Hagadol synagogue on Norfolk Street.

The committee urged the synagogue’s owners to determine whether pieces of the building can be preserved in either a partial or full demolition.

A 14-year-old boy has been charged with arson in connection with the fire.

The fire burned for several hours and took at least two hours for firefighters to bring under control. The building was empty at the time; two firefighters were injured putting out the blaze.

Built in 1850 as a Baptist church, the building was purchased in 1885 to become the first Eastern European congregation founded in New York City and served Russian Jews. The congregation closed the synagogue in 2007 after determining it did not have the $3 million to $4 million needed for repairs. In 1967, the building was declared a city landmark, and in 2003 it was designated an endangered historic site.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.