Fourth Church of Christ, Scientist, The
About this property
The Hebrew Tabernacle of Washington Heights is a historic Reform Jewish synagogue located at 551 Fort Washington Avenue, on the corner of 185th Street, in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City, New York, U.S. The domed Art Deco style building was built as a church for the Fourth Church of Christ, Scientist, in 1932 and converted to a synagogue in 1973. The Fourth Church of Christ, Scientist was founded in 1896 as West Side Church of Christ, Scientist. Initially located in the Solon Spencer Beman-designed Neoclassical building at West 178th Street and Fort Washington Avenue, it sold the church building to provide land for the George Washington Bridge. The building at 551 Fort Washington Avenue, across from Bennett Park on West 185th Street, was designed by architects Cherry & Matz of Manhattan and built during the years 1931 to 1932. It is Art Deco, with a bold and chalky limestone facade, with stainless steel and brass. The Hebrew Tabernacle Congregation purchased the building in 1973, as the church faced a dwindling congregation and increasing costs, and the building became a synagogue. The Hebrew Tabernacle Congregation, founded in 1905 in Harlem by German-Jewish founders, had outgrown its 1920s building on West 161st Street between Broadway and Fort Washington Avenue, and its Jewish congregants there were becoming increasingly isolated. As of 1982, many of the synagogue's members had come to New York in the 1930s as Jewish refugees from central Europe (in fact, so many German Jews were in the neighborhood, that it was jokingly referred to as "Frankfurt on the Hudson"), and the synagogue had 500 families as members. The congregation is a member of the Union for Reform Judaism. On August 31, 2011, the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places. Mark Levine, New York City Council member for the 7th district, nominee for Manhattan Borough President Ruth Westheimer, commonly known as "Dr. Ruth", German-American sex therapist, talk show host, author, professor, and Holocaust survivor National Register of Historic Places listings in Manhattan above 110th Street List of former Christian Science churches, societies and buildings Episode 4: Lillian (Opus 85, No. 6) (podcast). Mendelssohn on the Hudson – via Apple Podcasts.
Location
Categories
Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).
Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
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Questions about this property
When was Fourth Church of Christ, Scientist, The listed on the National Register?
Fourth Church of Christ, Scientist, The was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on August 30, 2011.
What type of historic resource is Fourth Church of Christ, Scientist, The?
Fourth Church of Christ, Scientist, The is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.
What is the period of significance for Fourth Church of Christ, Scientist, The?
The period of significance for Fourth Church of Christ, Scientist, The is recorded as the industrial era.
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Yes. Aubrey Research reports search National Register listings, battlefield records, land patents, and other primary historical sources within any radius of a US address. A report for an address near Fourth Church of Christ, Scientist, The will include this listing and all other historical records in the area.
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