Templo Adventista del Septimo
Posted: March 10, 2009 at 8:51 am
Today, the church at 126 Forsyth Street is known as the Templo Adventista del Septimo (Seventh Day Adventist). But this wasn’t always the case. Look closely at the tan-and-red facade and you will notice evidence of the building’s Jewish past. Many Jewish stars are quite visible within the ornate window arches. Regardless of religious affiliation, however, this house of worship is an icon of Lower East Side history.
The building itself was erected in 1890 by a renowned architect named Josiah Cleveland Cody, and was a temporary home to a missionary group. Before long, a group of Lithuanian Jews from outside Vilna settled there, making it headquarters for the Chevrah Poel Zedek Anschei Illia. A renovation in 1909 brought retail storefronts, and extra money to the congregation. But by the mid-1920s, the synagogue was in decline, thanks in part to “changes in the neighborhood” (sound familiar?). Nevertheless, the tight-knit community remained there until the 1960s when the building was finally sold.
[Photo Credit: Yeshiva University]Related Reading:
An Inventory to the Chevrah Poel Zedek Anschei Illia Collection, 1893-1961 [Yeshiva University]
March 10th, 2009 at 11:16 am
Wow, Nice work Boogie. I have often wondered about that building as I noticed the details you mentioned. The aging synagogue or church is usually the last reminder of a neighborhood’s past.
Back home in Detroit, the crumbling spires of old churches are the only breaks in the endless landscape of 2 story flats. However, in Montreal I spotted a lot of old churches very tastefully converted into multi-unit housing.
I hope this place lasts, but worry that eventually when enough money gets thrown around………
March 10th, 2009 at 11:27 am
Thanks. It’s somewhat fitting that churches and synagogues are some of the first buildings erected in new towns. And are many times the last to come down. This is case in point.
Whereabouts Detroit you from? Michigan is my alma mater.
March 10th, 2009 at 4:18 pm
great find!
March 10th, 2009 at 7:10 pm
Hey Boogie, never knew you were a fellow alum. Originally from the Michigan/Livernois area (west side), but grew up in Dearborn.
August 11th, 2009 at 6:16 am
[...] night, we noticed that the colorful religious mural hanging on the Delancey facade of Templo Adventista del Septimo was detached from its longstanding position. Indeed, upon closer inspection, it seems that the [...]
March 15th, 2010 at 6:14 am
[...] the southwest corner of Delancey and Forsyth Streets, in the shadow of Templo Adventista del Septimo, a tiny parcel of Sara D. Roosevelt Park has become a colorful junkyard of [...]
April 13th, 2010 at 6:52 pm
nice post, thanks!
April 13th, 2010 at 10:52 pm
nice post, thanks!
August 24th, 2010 at 11:42 am
[...] building itself was erected in 1890 by a renowned architect named Josiah Cleveland Cody, and was a temporary home to a missionary [...]