Museum at Eldridge Street

The Museum at Eldridge Street occupies the Eldridge Street Synagogue, which opened in eighteen eighty-seven as the first grand house of worship purpose-built in the United States by Eastern European Jewish immigrants. Its construction was a defiant statement of success, intended to show that these new arrivals could build something as monumental and beautiful as the grand cathedrals appearing elsewhere in the city. The architects, Peter and Francis William Herter, were themselves immigrants who built numerous tenement houses in the area, yet they designed this space with an intricate blend of Moorish, Gothic, and Romanesque styles to serve as a spiritual anchor for a community living in cramped, difficult conditions.