Temple Emanu-El

840 5th Avenue | also 3 East 65th Street, 844 5th Avenue, 1 East 65th Street | Upper East Side | built 1929

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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. 1896

    Caroline Astor's double mansion is finished on the corner where Temple Emanu-El later stands

    The northeast corner of Fifth Avenue and 65th Street first held the Mrs. William B. Astor House, a double mansion completed in 1896 to a Richard Morris Hunt design that imitated a French chateau. Caroline Astor lived in the north half and her son John Jacob Astor IV in the south half. The house was sold to developer Benjamin Winter Sr. and torn down around 1926, and the temple now stands on its site.

    Source: Wikipedia

  2. 1925

    Congregation Emanu-El buys the former Astor mansion property on Fifth Avenue at 65th Street

    The neighborhood around Fifth Avenue and 43rd Street had turned commercial, and Congregation Emanu-El could not expand its 1868 temple there. In 1925 it bought the Astor mansion site at 65th Street, and building began in 1927. That same year the old temple was torn down, and the congregation merged with Temple Beth-El, whose building at Fifth Avenue and 76th Street hosted services in the meantime.

    Source: blog.mcny.org

  3. 1929

    Emanu-El's new temple is finished in autumn 1929 after Louis Marshall's congregation chose to stay on Fifth Avenue

    Under president Louis Marshall, the congregation chose in the mid-1920s to move north but remain on Fifth Avenue, aiming to grow from 1,600 seats to 2,500. Its leaders thought Jewish architects would best understand a temple's needs, and the firm headed by Robert D. Kohn, with Charles Butler and Clarence Stein, won the job. Construction ran from 1927 to the autumn of 1929.

    Source: emanuelnyc.org

  4. 1930

    January 10

    About 2,500 people attend the formal dedication of Temple Emanu-El at 1 East 65th Street

    Temple Emanu-El held its formal dedication at 1 East 65th Street on January 10, 1930, with 2,500 people attending. Construction had started in 1927 and lasted two years, to designs by Robert D. Kohn, Charles Butler and Clarence Stein. While it was being built, the congregation held services eleven blocks uptown at Temple Beth-El.

    Source: blog.mcny.org

  5. 1930

    Hildreth Meiere's mosaics and a blend of Moorish, Romanesque and Byzantine forms fill the sanctuary

    The temple mixes styles. Hildreth Meiere, better known in New York for the roundels at Radio City Music Hall, made the mosaics behind the bimah, and an eight-pointed star of the same Moorish character decorates the Cassell Community House. The Beth-El Chapel has a double-domed Byzantine-style ceiling, the pulpit carving has Art Nouveau tendrils, and the painted ceiling includes Egyptian and Aztec motifs.

    Source: emanuelnyc.org

  6. 1966

    A New York Community Trust plaque marks Temple Emanu-El as a Landmark of New York

    In 1966 the New York Community Trust fixed a bronze plaque headed Landmarks of New York to the northeast corner of the temple, at 65th Street and Fifth Avenue. Its text calls the architecture an adaptation of Moorish and Romanesque styles that stands for Eastern and Western cultures. The temple's own administrator pointed to the plaque in a 2020 essay.

    Source: emanuelnyc.org

  7. 2013

    February 4

    Bill Clinton and Michael Bloomberg speak at Ed Koch's funeral

    Former mayor Ed Koch's funeral was held at Temple Emanu-El on February 4, 2013. Former president Bill Clinton spoke, serving as President Obama's representative, and then-mayor Michael Bloomberg was among the other speakers.

    “His funeral took place on February 4, 2013, at Temple Emanu-El, a Reform Jewish congregation in Manhattan. Former president Bill Clinton addressed the congregation…”

    Source: Wikipedia

  8. 2014

    September 7

    Howard Stern delivers a raunchy eulogy at Joan Rivers's funeral

    Joan Rivers's funeral took place at Temple Emanu-El on Sunday, September 7, 2014. Howard Stern gave one of the raunchiest eulogies imaginable, joking about the kind of subject Rivers joked about herself. He had hesitated when her daughter Melissa asked him, and comedian Louis C.K. told him she deserved a great send-off. Margaret Cho wrote that the words hung in silence at first before the mourners began laughing.

    Source: huffpost.com

Further reading

Nearby

All 93 buildings with stories in Upper East Side