St. Barbara Greek Orthodox Church
27 Forsyth Street | Chinatown | built 1900
Open on the map3 entries
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.
- 1892
Congregation Kol Israel Anschi Poland dedicates its new synagogue
A congregation of Polish Orthodox Jews bought the lot, then numbered 20-22 Forsyth Street, in February 1892 and built a synagogue designed by Herter & Schneider for an estimated $100,000. It was dedicated on September 19, 1892, with the keys handed to president Annie Morris under Rabbi Jacob Joseph. Men sat below and women above, and the building also hosted weddings, funerals and later a Hebrew school.
Source: bedfordandbowery.com
- 1926
The foreclosed synagogue is sold to a Greek buyer
After 34 years the congregation lost the building to foreclosure in February 1926. Liberty Place Holding Corporation bought it at auction for $46,000, and the building was sold within the year to Dorotheos Bourazanis, a Greek man. Today's St. Barbara parishioners date the church's founding to 1926.
Source: bedfordandbowery.com
- 1934
St. Barbara's Greek congregation buys back its church from the lender
St. Barbara's members fell into foreclosure themselves in 1932 and went door to door among Lower East Side neighbors to raise money. They bought the building back from the Lawyers Trust Company, and the deed was signed in 1934. Greek families began leaving for places like Astoria in the 1960s as Chinatown grew, but the church stayed.
Source: bedfordandbowery.com
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