165-Year-Old Ex-Shul on Lower East Side Closed After Column Cracks Found
Image by angel orensanz foundation
A former synagogue on the Lower East Side of Manhattan was evacuated after cracks were discovered in the building’s columns.
The building, which was evacuated during a performance gala of the Angel Orensanz Foundation Center for the Arts, was closed indefinitely.
Built in 1849, the Gothic Revival synagogue once served as the home for Congregation Anshe Chesed.
It now houses the arts center, a gallery and performance space. Orensanz is a Spanish sculptor who bought the building, a landmark-protected structure, in 1986.
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.
If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
