Park Slope Jewish Center - Part 2

This series of posts about the Park Slope Jewish Center draws from "Building on a Strong Foundation," a history exhibit currently on view at PSJC, and from the building's National Register of Historic Places Designation Report.

In 1925, Congregation Tifereth Israel constructed a new synagogue at the corner of 8th Avenue and 14th Street in Park Slope, around the corner from its previous home in two adjoining row houses in 14th Street, discussed in our previous post.

Congregation Tifereth Israel
(Park Slope Jewish Center)
Allen A. Blaustein, architect - 1925

From the Designation Report:

Architect Allen A. Blaustein designed the synagogue in an eclectic fashion with Romanesque and Baroque elements...

In the center of the upper facade is a large rose window. Usually rose windows are associated with Romanesque or Gothic style Christian churches, but here the Star of David motif in the stained glass reveals the Jewish affiliation...

Perhaps the most distinctive features of the synagogue are the bold blind arches of cast stone running along the upper part of the south and east elevations. These arches spring from unusual tripartite arched corbels with Romanesque foliate designs...

14th Street elevation, from Designation Report

Congregation Tifereth Israel's building was constructed in 1925, at the peak of the synagogue boom and at a time of optimism and growth of the Jewish population of Brooklyn. Its size, elaborate detailing, and fine craftsmanship all exhibit a pride and desire to create a lasting presence in the neighborhood. The domed skylight is typical of its period. The dome was seen as a symbol of unity, an essential Jewish concept.

While the synagogue was built during a period of prosperity, anti-Jewish feeling was strong in America. The synagogue contains a small upstairs room that was designed to function, if need be, as a sukkah, during the holiday of Sukkot. Instead of building a sukkah outside, where it would be exposed to hostile view, the members could celebrate the holiday inside, in privacy. The sukkah room was designed with a retractable skylight in the roof, so the room could be made exposed to the open sky, which is a requirement of a sukkah. Another tangible reminder of the presence of outside threats is the grating that protects the stained glass from vandalism.

The eclectic design of Park Slope Jewish Center can be seen as part of the prevailing historicist attitude of the period, as well as part of the continued search by Jews for an historic precedent for their architecture. The idea of historicism was a dominant force in the cultural life of the nation during the late nineteenth century and early decades of the twentieth century. Architects and architectural patrons were particularly influenced by historicist ideas, appropriating the design, details, and symbols of the architecture of past civilizations and turning them into the symbols of the importance of contemporary America. In contrast, historicism could also be employed to reinforce and/or protect the ethnic differences between immigrant groups or to separate them from the mainstream culture. Since large synagogues began to appear in American cities before the Civil War, the appropriate style for these buildings was a widely debated subject. Moorish designs prevailed in the mid-nineteenth century but by the final years of the nineteenth century, following the discovery of the ruins of the Roman Classical style Second Temple of Jerusalem, a bold Classicism became the accepted style for synagogues. However, by the 1920s, this Classical style had acquired generalized associations with American nationalism and was widely used for public buildings such as banks and courthouses and Jews searched for a new style for their synagogues. Park Slope Jewish Center's design is evocative of the Romanesque architecture of eleventh and twelfth century Europe. Many of Tifereth Israel's original members were from Germany where Romanesque architecture had flourished. The architect employed elements of the Romanesque and combined them with typically Jewish symbolism to make for an inventive, yet eclectic design.

Congregation Tifereth Israel - detail
National Register of Historic Places Designation Report

...Park Slope Jewish Center retains a high degree of historic integrity and is a distinctive architectural, cultural, and religious landmark. Today, the synagogue's continued presence in the Park Slope neighborhood is testimony to the principles of religious freedom so integral to our nation's history.

From the "Building on a Strong Foundation" exhibit:

In 1925, Tifereth Israel built what is now our building, for $125,000. The first services were held on the High Holidays, even though "no more than the bare four walls" were in place. A plan to build a community center in the adjoining lot was never realized.

This building was erected in 1925, and the honor of laying the cornerstone went to the highest bidder. Later, a ceremonial procession brought the torah scrolls here from their former home around the corner. Those carrying the scrolls had paid for the honor with generous donations.

East/north elevations

Note the plain brick north wall facing the side garden, where the congregation intended to build an adjoining community center.

Next, we will explore another early Park Slope congregation, B'nai Jacob, which merged with Tifereth Israel in 1942.

Park Slope Jewish Center - Part 1

This past weekend we had the great privilege of attending the opening of "Building on a Strong Foundation," an exhibit mounted at the Park Slope Jewish Center, 8th Avenue and 14th Street in Park Slope. The wide-ranging exhibit explores the extremely rich history of PSJC, which traces its roots back to three South Brooklyn congregations that are as old as Park Slope itself: B'nai Jacob, B'nai Sholaum, and Tifereth Israel. We will try to capture a bit of this rich story here. This fascinating story reflects aspects of American immigration and religious history, the history of American Judaism, of Brooklyn, of Park Slope, and of the larger social currents of American life in the 20th century.

PSJC's home has also been placed on the National Register of Historic Places, and the designation report, available for download at New York's Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation, makes for very interesting reading. We will draw from both the exhibit and the designation report.

Background (from the National Register Designation Report):

In addition to its architectural significance, Park Slope Jewish Center is also historically significant... for its association with the development of Conservative Judaism. It is also important in the area of ethnic heritage for its association with the history of Eastern European Jewish immigration in New York City. The synagogue exemplifies the history of American Jewish congregations, and the ways that Jews have changed and adapted to life in this country.

While Jews have been in America since the earliest colonial days, there was not a large presence in Brooklyn until the second half of the nineteenth century. The early immigrants were Sephardic Jews. During the early 1800s the immigration shifted to Ashkenazim from Germany... Things changed rapidly in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. Many Jews moved to New York. Between 1880 and 1910 1.4 million Jews moved to the city, and 1.1 million stayed. Before the First World War, Jews began leaving the Lower East Side of Manhattan for other neighborhoods around the city. One of these neighborhoods was the Park Slope neighborhood in Brooklyn.

Background (from the Exhibit):

Legend has it that, in the 1830s, the Levy family rowed across the East River to attend Shabbat services. German Jews arrived in the mid-1850s, and soon Reform congregations were springing up. Beginning in the 1880s, an influx of traditional Eastern European Jews brought more Orthodox congregations. South Brooklyn was never a "Jewish" neighborhood, but the Jewish community was growing. Over time, mergers and splits of congregations were common, as ritual preferences diverged and population patterns shifted.

Each of our congregations began modestly. At first they met in people's homes or rented space. Only when they achieved a degree of success and stability did they put up buildings of their own.

Early History of Congregation Tifereth Israel (Designation Report):

Congregation Tifereth Israel was founded in 1900, according to papers in the synagogue's archives. The congregation filed its articles of incorporation on April 12, 1912, under the name of "Congregation Thifereth Israel, Inc." The congregation dates from the period when Park Slope was being developed, and benefited from the major wave of Jewish immigration from Eastern Europe from 1880 to World War 1.

Early History of Congregation Tifereth Israel (Exhibit):

This was a congregation of immigrants (as far as we know). Services were Orthodox, and shul business was conducted in Yiddish. The membership was organized as a chevra, with members referred to in meeting minutes as "Brothers". In 1912, the Chevra hired a doctor, available to members for an extra $2.00 per year in dues.

The Exhibit details the locations where the young congregation worshiped. The earliest was on the second floor of 232 15th Street (between 5th & 6th) which no longer stands; our comprehensive photographic survey of Park Slope shows an empty lot there:

(Formerly) 232 15th Street
Earliest location of Congregation Tifereth Israel

(Parenthetically, the lot until quite recently held a very early Park Slope theater building, a view of which is preserved in Google's street view below. We recall attending one of theater historian Cezar Del Valle's walking tours of early Park Slope theaters, and he stopped the tour at the building shown below, now gone:)

Google street view showing early Park Slope theater, now demolished

Tifereth Israel's next location was at 411 7th Avenue, third from left in the set of four matching buildings shown below:

407-413 7th Avenue
Congregation Tifereth Israel, 411 7th Avenue until 1915

Next, the congregation purchased 397 14th Street, between 7th & 8th, in 1915, and the following year purchased the adjoining 399 14th Street:

399 14th Street
Tifereth Israel here from 1916-1925

397-399 14th Street at center

In 1925 the congregation built PSJC's present home at the corner of 8th Avenue and 14th Street, which we will examine in a subsequent post.