Beth Elohim Temple House
274 Garfield Place | also 177 8th Avenue | Park Slope | built 1928
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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.
- 1928
Beth Elohim builds the Temple House opposite its sanctuary
Negotiations to merge with Union Temple began in 1925, but younger members, worried about losing the congregation's identity, forced a withdrawal. The congregation instead raised money for a second building and put up the Temple House in 1928-29. Mortimer Freehof and David Levy designed it in cast stone in the "Jewish Deco" style, with Moses and the Tablets of the Law on the roof parapet. It held a chapel, ballroom, classrooms, library, gymnasium, handball courts and a swimming pool.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1946
A bank threatens to foreclose on the synagogue's buildings
The bank expected to sell the congregation's buildings to the local Catholic diocese, because the mortgage had gone unpaid for many years. The congregation talked the lender into renegotiating and reducing what it owed, and Max Koeppel led a campaign to clear the debt entirely.
“…in 1946, its bank threatened to foreclose on its buildings, in anticipation of their sale to the local Catholic diocese…”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1973
The landmarks report notes the Temple House shares its recreation facilities with the Ethical Culture School
The Park Slope Historic District report describes the Temple House, begun in 1928, as built to provide space for the temple school. Its recreational facilities were by then used jointly with the Ethical Culture School at 49 Prospect Park West. The report calls it one of the few buildings from the late 1920s in the district.
- 1978
The Temple House opens after-school and early childhood centers under Rabbi Weider
Gerald Weider joined Beth Elohim's staff in 1978 and focused on programs for urban Jewish families. Under his leadership the congregation opened after-school and early childhood centers that year and a day camp the next, all housed in the Temple House.
“Beth Elohim opened after–school and early childhood centers in 1978, and a day camp the following year, all housed in the Temple House.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1982
Services move into the Temple House as Beth Elohim campaigns to repair its cracked sanctuary ceiling
The main sanctuary's ceiling cracked in the early 1980s, and for a time worship was held in the Temple House. In 1982 the congregation ran a "Save our Sanctuary" campaign and repaired the ceiling.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1992
Emergency work is done on the Temple House facade, and a full restoration follows by 1999
In 1992 the congregation did emergency restoration work on the facade of the Temple House. In 1997 it began its Kadimah Capital Campaign to fund repairs and renovations, and by 1999 the facade had been restored.
Source: Wikipedia
- 2011
B-an-G Studio plans a moss-draped modern sukkah outside the community center
In October 2011 the Brooklyn Paper reported that the Brooklyn firm B-an-G Studio would build a 10-foot sukkah for Sukkot outside the community center next to the synagogue, at Eighth Avenue. It would have curved, semi-transparent walls of wooden blocks bolted to a steel frame and be draped in Spanish moss. Rabbi Andy Bachman said the design combined art with function.
Source: brooklynpaper.com
Further reading
- Congregation Beth ElohimWikipedia
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