Bialystoker Center and Home for the Aged

228 East Broadway | also 222 East Broadway | Lower East Side | built 1931

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

  1. 1921

    Immigrants from Bialystok found the Bialystoker Center at 228 East Broadway

    In 1919 Bialystoker societies met on East Broadway to form a relief committee for the war-torn hometown. In 1921, under journalist David Sohn, they founded the Bialystoker Center as an umbrella body. It first occupied an old building at 228 East Broadway, replaced in 1922-23 by a five-story headquarters with meeting rooms for affiliated groups. It also published a monthly newsletter, the Bialystoker Stimme.

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  2. 1929

    September 22

    A parade of 5,000 marks the groundbreaking for the Home for the Aged

    In January 1927 the Bialystoker Center resolved to build a Home for the Aged, so that members would not have to place aging parents in a charity institution. Fundraising was slow, but the building contract was signed on September 16, 1929. The groundbreaking six days later drew a parade of 5,000 people and nearly 25,000 onlookers.

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  3. 1931

    June 21

    The Bialystoker Home for the Aged is dedicated at a large ceremony

    The Home was dedicated on June 21, 1931, at a second large ceremony, even though the Depression had slowed construction. When it opened it could house 250 residents and also contained an auditorium, a synagogue, sun parlors and a hospital area. Harry Hurwit, who designed the nine-story building, was a Yiddish-speaking immigrant born in Kovno who grew up on the Lower East Side.

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  4. 1931

    Harry Hurwit gives the Home an Art Deco entrance with the symbols of the twelve tribes

    Hurwit's design uses yellow iron-spot brick, setbacks and chamfered corners that echo Manhattan's Art Deco skyscrapers, which is rare on the Lower East Side. The entrance is its showpiece. The word "Bialystoker" is lettered to resemble Hebrew characters above the door, and roundels in the doorway depict symbols of the twelve tribes of Israel, including a lion for Judah and a ship for Zebulun.

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  5. 1958

    Urban renewal clears the neighborhood for the Seward Park Houses but spares the Home

    Urban renewal around the Center began in early 1958, when 1,481 families, about half of them Jewish and a third Puerto Rican, were removed, and the Seward Park Houses went up in 1958-60. The Center and the Seward Park library branch were spared while many older buildings nearby came down. From then on the Center focused increasingly on caring for elderly Jewish residents.

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  6. 2011

    The Home for the Aged closes as one of the last landsmanshaftn in New York

    The Home for the Aged closed in 2011, leaving the Center one of the last survivors of the hometown associations, called landsmanshaftn, that immigrant Jews formed in the city. The Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the building in 2013, after 22 people testified in favor at the hearing.

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

Nearby

All 78 buildings with stories in Lower East Side