Museum at Eldridge Street

The Museum at Eldridge Street occupies the Eldridge Street Synagogue on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, one of the first grand houses of worship built by Eastern European Jewish immigrants in the United States. Completed in 1887, the building was designed by the architectural firm Herter Brothers in a style that blends Moorish, Romanesque, and Gothic influences, producing a facade of extraordinary ornamental detail. For much of the twentieth century the sanctuary fell into disrepair, but a decades-long restoration project returned it to its former splendour, culminating in the reopening of the main sanctuary in 2007.

Today the museum uses the restored synagogue to tell the story of the immigrant community that built it and the neighbourhood that grew around it. Visitors exploring the main sanctuary encounter the original hand-painted walls, intricate woodwork, and a celebrated rose window designed by the artist Kiki Smith and architect Deborah Gans. An entry ticket grants access to the sanctuary, the ground-floor exhibition spaces, and the atmospheric basement, where the congregation continued to gather during the years the upper hall stood dormant.