The Jewish Center
131 West 86th Street | Upper West Side | built 1920
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The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.
Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.
- 1918
The Jewish Center opens as a synagogue with library and meeting halls
Architect Louis Allen Abramson designs the Jewish Center to combine a synagogue with an auditorium, library and gallery. Built in two parts, the first four floors, faced in Indiana limestone and granite, open formally on March 22, 1918. Plans for upper floors with a gymnasium and swimming pool follow in 1919, which later earns the building the nickname of the first shul with a pool.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1921
Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan takes a leave amid a dispute over his views
Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan takes a leave of absence from the Jewish Center in August 1921 after trustees object to his doubts about the authenticity of parts of the Torah and his calls to modify dietary laws. The New-York Tribune reports on the dispute that December. Kaplan is replaced by Leo Jung, whose views sit closer to those of the congregation.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1942
The Jewish Center broadcasts a memorial for a Pearl Harbor casualty
On June 30, 1942, the Jewish Center holds a memorial service for Private First Class Louis Schleifer, an air mechanic and the first New Jerseyan to die in action at Pearl Harbor. The service is broadcast on radio from the building's auditorium.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1986
A fitness club advertises that it is located in a temple
By the 1980s outside tenants share the Jewish Center building, among them the Performing Arts Repertory Theatre Foundation and the Aerobics West Fitness Club. In June 1986 an Aerobics West advertisement ends with the joke that the club is located in a temple, a wink at the synagogue still housed in the building.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
Further reading
- Jewish Center (Manhattan)Wikipedia
- The Jewish Center - 131 West 86th StreetDaytonian in Manhattan
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