Pythian Temple

135 West 70th Street | Lincoln Square | built 1927

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Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.

  1. 1927

    Thomas W. Lamb builds an Egyptian-style temple for the Knights of Pythias

    The Knights of Pythias commissioned this building as a meeting place for 120 local lodges. Architect Thomas W. Lamb gave it an Egyptian Revival design in Art Deco style, with pharaonic figures and polychrome columns, and inside were 13 lodge rooms, an auditorium with Broadway-quality staging, a gym and a bowling alley. It was converted in 1986 into 88 condominiums known as The Pythian.

    Source: Wikipedia

  2. 1928

    January 25

    Mayor Jimmy Walker is caught off guard by his rival Hylan at the temple's dedication

    The Knights of Pythias officially dedicated the building on January 25, 1928, before more than 1,600 people in the larger auditorium. Mayor James Walker, famous for arriving late, showed up after the program had begun and did not know that former Mayor John H. Hylan, his bitter rival, was sharing the stage. Walker spotted him only after starting to speak, covered with a polite nod, and joked about being the "late Mayor". After congratulating the Pythians he left the stage.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  3. 1946

    August 28

    A Civil Rights Congress meeting at the temple draws attention in a 1947 Congressional report

    The temple's auditorium was routinely leased to the Upper West Side Civil Rights Congress and the West Side Committee of American-Soviet Friendship. On August 28, 1946, the Civil Rights Congress held a meeting here that was cosponsored by the Communist Party (West Side), the American Labor Party, American Youth for Democracy and others. A Congressional report dated February 15, 1947 cited the meeting, saying the Communist Party had created the Civil Rights Congress to protect members who ran afoul of the law.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  4. 1954

    April 12

    Bill Haley and His Comets record 'Rock Around the Clock' in the temple

    As the Knights of Pythias declined in the early 1940s, Decca Records leased space here and turned a third-floor auditorium into a recording studio. On April 12, 1954, Bill Haley and His Comets recorded 'Rock Around the Clock' in it, and they cut most of their Decca records here through 1964.

    Source: Wikipedia

  5. 1956

    Paul Robeson speaks at the Pythian Temple amid protest

    Actor and singer Paul Robeson delivers a speech at the Pythian Temple days after Soviet forces crush the Hungarian uprising. Protesters throw eggs and fruit at Robeson over his past praise of the Soviet Union, and some members of the Knights of Pythias walk out of the hall during the talk.

    Source: Wikipedia

  6. 1957

    January

    Pete Seeger gives a concert at the Pythian Temple

    Daytonian in Manhattan notes that in the 1950s the temple's smaller auditorium continued to host operas, plays and meetings. In April 1956 the folk-music group People's Artists staged a hootenanny at the temple, and in January 1957 the singer Pete Seeger gave a concert there.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  7. 1958

    October 21

    Buddy Holly records his final studio sessions at the Pythian Temple

    Buddy Holly's last studio recordings were made in Decca's studio here on October 21, 1958, with the Dick Jacobs Orchestra. Earlier that year, in May, the New York Institute of Technology had bought the building.

    Source: Wikipedia

  8. 1958

    College officials exploring the temple find coffins of skeletons under the meeting-room altars

    After the New York Institute of Technology bought the building, faculty walked through it in January 1958 to plan classrooms and lecture halls. The Times reporter Meyer Berger wrote on January 20 that wardrobe lockers still held Egyptian and scriptural garb, along with halberds, staffs and wands. Beneath several altars in meeting rooms decorated in Egyptian, Babylonian or Aztec styles, the faculty found coffins containing skeletons, some plastic and some apparently human, of the sort used to frighten initiates.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  9. 1958

    May

    The New York Institute of Technology buys the fading Pythian Temple

    With Knights of Pythias membership in steep decline, the New York Institute of Technology purchases the temple to serve as its main campus. Pythian memorabilia is still found inside the building after the sale, alongside the recording studio Decca Records had run there since the early 1940s.

    Source: Wikipedia

  10. 1960

    September 1

    An escaped honey bear named Timmy is cornered in the Institute of Technology lobby

    For several days before September 1, 1960, police had received reports of a cat-sized animal slipping among buildings on the block, which officials dismissed as imaginary. That night an elevator operator found it curled in a corner of the New York Institute of Technology lobby: Timmy, a honey bear belonging to 17-year-old Robert Engler. The bear bolted through the basement and lobby restrooms before being caught, and Detective Walter Bentley was bitten on the wrist. Police carried Timmy to the West 68th Street station in a pail.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  11. 1983

    Architect David Gura converts the temple into apartments

    Architect David Gura converts the former Pythian Temple into residential units, carving 83 different apartment layouts out of the building's lodge rooms, auditoriums, and gymnasium, including duplexes with 16-foot ceilings. Gura later likens the challenge of reworking the building's maze of spaces to solving an enormous Rubik's Cube.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  12. 1993

    Lady Gaga's parents move into the converted temple, where director Robert Altman also lives

    The Pythian Temple, built for the Knights of Pythias, had been converted to apartments by the 1990s. The parents of the singer Lady Gaga moved into the building in 1993. The film director Robert Altman also lived there, from the 1990s until his death in 2006.

    Source: Wikipedia

Further reading

Nearby

All 48 buildings with stories in Lincoln Square