Kehila Kedosha Janina Synagogue

280 Broome Street | Lower East Side | built 1927

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The lot about 1940
About 1940. Via 1940s.nyc
The lot about 1985
About 1985. Via 80s.nyc

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.

  1. 1906

    Greek Jewish immigrants from Ioannina found their congregation

    Immigrants from Ioannina, Greece founded the Kehila Kedosha Janina congregation in 1906, two decades before it built its own synagogue on Broome Street. The congregation follows the Romaniote rite, a Jewish tradition distinct from Sephardic and Ashkenazi practice that traces its roots in the Eastern Mediterranean back nearly two thousand years, predating the Spanish Inquisition. It remains the only Romaniote synagogue in the Western Hemisphere.

    Source: Wikipedia

  2. 1914

    The congregation incorporates in 1914 as the Jewish Community of Janina

    Founded in 1906 and named for the Greek town of Ioannina, where most members came from, the congregation was formally incorporated in 1914 as the Jewish Community of Janina, Inc. Among its early activities was a burial society, the Society of Love and Brotherhood, which now goes by the name United Brotherhood Good Hope Society of Janina. At first the group worshiped in rented space.

    “The congregation, founded in 1906, was formally incorporated as the Jewish Community of Janina, Inc. in 1914.”

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  3. 1924

    The congregation buys the Broome Street tenement where it had rented a storefront to worship

    Before owning anything, the Romaniote congregation prayed in a storefront of the building at this address. In 1924 it bought the tenement and storefront from Jack and Rebecca Orenshtein. The structure began as an early-nineteenth-century single-family house and had been enlarged. The first synagogue plans called for partial demolition, reusing walls and foundations where possible, though it is unclear how much of the old building survived.

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  4. 1925

    Architect Sydney Daub, working alone since 1919, designs the synagogue for a 20-foot lot

    Sydney Daub graduated from Cooper Union in 1915, worked for Goldner & Goldberg and then Peter J. McKean, and practiced alone from 1919; the congregation hired him to design its synagogue. The building permit was issued in 1925. The brick and cast-stone facade fills the 20-foot frontage and mixes Classical and Moorish elements, with large stone Tablets of the Law, lions, and stained-glass windows bearing Jewish symbols.

    “Daub practiced alone from 1919, during which time he was hired by the Kehila Kadosha Janina congregation to design their new synagogue building.”

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  5. 1927

    Greek Jews from Ioannina build their synagogue on Broome Street

    Greek Jewish immigrants from Ioannina founded the congregation in 1906 but did not build this synagogue until 1927. Designed by Sydney Daub in Classical Revival and Moorish Revival styles, it is the only synagogue of the Romaniote rite in the Western Hemisphere. Its women's gallery now holds a museum about Jewish life in Greece.

    Source: Wikipedia

  6. 1999

    November 30

    Kehila Kedosha Janina is listed on the National Register of Historic Places

    On November 30, 1999 the synagogue was added to the National Register of Historic Places, five years before the city made it a landmark. Built in 1925-27 to designs by Sydney Daub in Classical Revival and Moorish Revival styles, it is the only synagogue of the Romaniote rite in the Western Hemisphere, a tradition separate from the Sephardic and Ashkenazi ones.

    “It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 30, 1999…”

    Source: Wikipedia

  7. 2004

    May 11

    The city designates Kehila Kedosha Janina a landmark

    On May 11, 2004, the Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the small Broome Street synagogue a New York City landmark, 77 years after the congregation from Ioannina completed it. It remains the only Romaniote-rite synagogue in the Western Hemisphere, and its second-floor women's gallery displays artifacts and Judaica on the history of Greek Jews.

    Source: Wikipedia

  8. 2006

    Architect Leonard Colchamiro leads a restoration of the synagogue

    The synagogue at 280 Broome Street, designed by Sydney Daub and completed in 1927, underwent a major restoration in 2006 under architect Leonard Colchamiro. The building's second-floor women's gallery holds a museum of artifacts and Judaica documenting Jewish life in Greece.

    Source: Wikipedia

Further reading

Nearby

All 78 buildings with stories in Lower East Side