Congregation Rodeph Sholom
7 West 83rd Street | Upper West Side | built 1930
Open on the map7 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.
- 1926
Rodeph Sholom buys West 83rd Street land and holds its last Lexington Avenue service
In 1926 Congregation Rodeph Sholom bought land on West 83rd Street for a new home on the Upper West Side. Its final service at the Lexington Avenue and 63rd Street synagogue, where the first service in that building had been held on September 4, 1891, took place on October 4 of that year. The new building would not be dedicated until March 1930.
Source: rodephsholom.org
- 1930
Charles B. Meyers's Romanesque Temple House and Sanctuary is dedicated on Purim
Rodeph Sholom dedicated its new Romanesque Temple House and Sanctuary on Purim in March 1930. The architect was Charles B. Meyers, and the complex was built across 1929 and 1930. The congregation's own history describes putting up such an imposing building in the middle of the Depression as a bold decision.
Source: rodephsholom.org
- 1930
Louis I. Newman is installed as Rodeph Sholom's rabbi in the year the new building opens
Louis I. Newman was installed as the congregation's rabbi in 1930, the year of the West 83rd Street dedication. In 1970 an opera with his libretto, Tamar and Judah, was performed as a tribute to his forty years of service. When Newman died in 1972, Gunter Hirschberg was appointed senior rabbi.
Source: rodephsholom.org
- 1942
Rodeph Sholom marks its 100th anniversary with a Stephen Wise sermon, a pageant and a Waldorf-Astoria banquet
In December 1942 Congregation Rodeph Sholom, led by Rabbi Louis I. Newman, celebrated its centennial over a weekend. The program included a sermon by Dr. Stephen S. Wise and a pageant by students of religious schools and youth groups, plus a Saturday-evening banquet at the Waldorf-Astoria where religious and communal leaders offered greetings. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency noted that the congregation had never merged with another since its founding in 1842.
Source: jta.org
- 1954
Twin daughters of an associate rabbi become Rodeph Sholom's first B'not Mitzvah
On January 9, 1954, Anne and Blanche Ilson, the twin daughters of Associate Rabbi Aaron B. Ilson, became the first B'not Mitzvah of Congregation Rodeph Sholom, according to its own timeline. The ceremony took place in the West 83rd Street building the congregation had moved into in 1930.
Source: rodephsholom.org
- 1985
A major restoration returns the synagogue's lobby and sanctuary to their original state
In 1985 Rodeph Sholom completed a major restoration of the lobby and Sanctuary of its West 83rd Street building, returning both to their original state, per the congregation's timeline. The project came 55 years after the building was dedicated in 1930. Three years later, in 1988, the congregation's school moved into the building's West 84th Street side.
Source: rodephsholom.org
- 2019
New construction adds a lobby entranceway, clergy suite, chapel and youth spaces
In 2019 new construction at Rodeph Sholom added a lobby entranceway, a clergy suite, and new chapel and youth spaces to the 1930 building. It followed earlier projects recorded in the congregation's timeline: the building and bimah were made wheelchair accessible in 2000, and the sixth floor was rebuilt in 2003 to hold Schnurmacher Chapel and Eisner Auditorium.
Source: rodephsholom.org
Further reading
Nearby
- The Beresford211 Central Park West | 14 entries
- The Orwell257 Central Park West | 5 entries
- Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation415 Columbus Avenue | 5 entries
- The Jewish Center131 West 86th Street | 4 entries
- Delacorte Theater1000 5th Avenue | 5 entries
- American Museum of Natural History200 Central Park West | 21 entries