Lincoln Square Synagogue
180 Amsterdam Avenue | Lincoln Square | built 2011
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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.
- 1964
Rabbi Shlomo Riskin founds Lincoln Square Synagogue
Rabbi Shlomo Riskin founded Lincoln Square Synagogue as a Modern Orthodox congregation in 1964. In the late 1960s the synagogue hosted the first Orthodox women's tefillah group, on the holiday of Simhat Torah. The congregation later moved several times, most recently in January 2013, to the building at 180 Amsterdam Avenue.
“The Lincoln Square Synagogue was founded as a congregation in 1964 by Rabbi Shlomo Riskin.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 2006
The synagogue swaps its old site at 200 Amsterdam for this lot and $20 million
By 2006 the congregation had outgrown its 1970 building at 200 Amsterdam Avenue. It agreed with developer American Continental Properties to a land swap: the synagogue received this site at 180 Amsterdam for a new building by CetraRuddy plus about $20 million, while the developer took the old site for an apartment tower.
Source: cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com
- 2010
Construction halts for lack of money until an anonymous donor gives over $20 million
In 2010 work on the new synagogue stopped; the Jewish Daily Forward reported there was not enough money to proceed. The project cost about $50 million, with roughly $30 million in hand. Rabbi Shaul Robinson said one anonymous donor covered the shortfall with a gift topping $20 million.
Source: cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com
- 2013
The new sanctuary hangs 613 ceiling lights, one for each commandment
When a New York Times reporter visited the finished sanctuary at 180 Amsterdam Avenue in January 2013, workers were still adding final touches to the ark. Rabbi Shaul Robinson stood under a ceiling with 613 lights, matching the number of commandments in the Torah, and called the building a godsend, light, airy and welcoming. The building also holds a ballroom and banquet hall, a study hall, classrooms, an outdoor terrace and rental space.
Source: Internet Archive
- 2013
The new sanctuary keeps the horseshoe but flattens the old tiered seating
Hausman & Rosenberg designed the old sanctuary, built in 1970, with steeply tiered seating wrapped around the center, in the manner of a Greek amphitheater. Some members felt it did not separate men and women visually enough, even with a mechitza. CetraRuddy kept the horseshoe form but replaced the high tiers with a gentler slope and turned worshippers' attention toward the ark rather than toward each other. Rabbi Robinson said the seating plan was otherwise the same.
Source: Internet Archive
- 2013
The Torah scrolls travel 250 feet to the new sanctuary after seven years
On January 13, 2013, the scrolls were carried from the old building to the new sanctuary at 180 Amsterdam Avenue, a journey the New York Times noted took seven years. A first bar mitzvah followed quickly. The Times also recalled that the congregation's first formal bat mitzvah was that of future Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan.
Source: cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com
- 2013
CetraRuddy gives the synagogue a facade of five glass scrolls
CetraRuddy designed the five-story, 52,000-square-foot building around the idea that the five books of the Torah form its essence. The east facade is made of five undulating glass scrolls tying together the sanctuary, study hall and classrooms, and the lobby's glass wall and curved stair carry the same motif inside.
Source: cetraruddy.com
- 2015
The synagogue's new building wins a 2015 interior lighting award
The synagogue's building at 180 Amsterdam Avenue received a 2015 Architectural Lighting award for its interior lighting. It stands five stories tall with 52,000 square feet, including a sanctuary that holds 429 people, and was described as the largest synagogue built in New York City in fifty years.
“The building won the 2015 Architectural Lighting award for interior lighting.”
Source: Wikipedia
Further reading
- Lincoln Square SynagogueWikipedia
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