The Art and Architecture of Jewish Affluence: The Synagogues of New York’s Upper West Side
Wednesday, May 7 • 7:00 PM - 8:30 PM
This event is free and open to the public. Registration is required.
Congregation Rodeph Sholom and Landmark West invite you to a free, in-person illustrated lecture by noted historian Dr. Samuel Gruber, in honor of Landmark West’s 40th anniversary as the preservation organization of the Upper West Side.
Within a generation of arriving in New York City, immigrant Jews began moving uptown. This was true for German-speaking Jews in the mid-19th century and Yiddish-speaking Jews in the early 20th century. The move reflected a broader process of acculturation and growing affluence, as European Jews became Americans.
The construction of impressive synagogues uptown was both a sign of continuity with cultural traditions and their successful acceptance into New York City’s ethnic and religious pluralism. By the early 20th century, the developing Upper West Side had become home to a rising number of middle-class or middle-class-aspiring Jews. Over the following decades, they sponsored a wealth of Jewish architecture. Many of these large, ornate synagogues were designed by Jewish architects.
This talk will explore the development and design of about a dozen Upper West Side synagogues representing all major branches of Judaism. Dr. Gruber will examine what these buildings share, how they differ, and how three generations of Jewish architects helped shape Jewish identity through their work.
About the Speaker
Samuel D. Gruber (BA, Princeton University; PhD, Columbia University) has led efforts to document, protect, and preserve historic Jewish sites around the world for 35 years. He was the founding director of the Jewish Heritage Program of the World Monuments Fund and research director of the United States Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad.
He currently directs Gruber Heritage Global, a cultural resource consulting firm, and serves as president of the International Survey of Jewish Monuments. From 1994 through 2022, Dr. Gruber taught Art History and Jewish Studies at Syracuse University, and has also taught at Binghamton, Colgate, Cornell, Temple, and Le Moyne College.
He has curated several online exhibitions, including Life of the Synagogue, Synagogues of the South, and Romaniote Memories. He recently curated Sacred Space: Synagogue Architecture and Identity at the Jewish Theological Seminary. Since 2021, he has been a lead researcher on the International Holocaust Memorial Monument Database project, a partnership among the Center for Jewish Art at Hebrew University, the Miller Center at the University of Miami, and the International Survey of Jewish Monuments.
Dr. Gruber is the author of Synagogues (1999) and American Synagogues: A Century of Architecture and Jewish Tradition. His articles, book chapters, and lectures can be found online at Samuel Gruber’s Jewish Art and Monuments.
Beginning this summer, Dr. Gruber will present a six-part lecture series on the History of the Jews of Rome.
This event is free and open to the public. Registration is required.
Congregation Rodeph Sholom and Landmark West invite you to a free, in-person illustrated lecture by noted historian Dr. Samuel Gruber, in honor of Landmark West’s 40th anniversary as the preservation organization of the Upper West Side.
Within a generation of arriving in New York City, immigrant Jews began moving uptown. This was true for German-speaking Jews in the mid-19th century and Yiddish-speaking Jews in the early 20th century. The move reflected a broader process of acculturation and growing affluence, as European Jews became Americans.
The construction of impressive synagogues uptown was both a sign of continuity with cultural traditions and their successful acceptance into New York City’s ethnic and religious pluralism. By the early 20th century, the developing Upper West Side had become home to a rising number of middle-class or middle-class-aspiring Jews. Over the following decades, they sponsored a wealth of Jewish architecture. Many of these large, ornate synagogues were designed by Jewish architects.
This talk will explore the development and design of about a dozen Upper West Side synagogues representing all major branches of Judaism. Dr. Gruber will examine what these buildings share, how they differ, and how three generations of Jewish architects helped shape Jewish identity through their work.
About the Speaker
Samuel D. Gruber (BA, Princeton University; PhD, Columbia University) has led efforts to document, protect, and preserve historic Jewish sites around the world for 35 years. He was the founding director of the Jewish Heritage Program of the World Monuments Fund and research director of the United States Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad.
He currently directs Gruber Heritage Global, a cultural resource consulting firm, and serves as president of the International Survey of Jewish Monuments. From 1994 through 2022, Dr. Gruber taught Art History and Jewish Studies at Syracuse University, and has also taught at Binghamton, Colgate, Cornell, Temple, and Le Moyne College.
He has curated several online exhibitions, including Life of the Synagogue, Synagogues of the South, and Romaniote Memories. He recently curated Sacred Space: Synagogue Architecture and Identity at the Jewish Theological Seminary. Since 2021, he has been a lead researcher on the International Holocaust Memorial Monument Database project, a partnership among the Center for Jewish Art at Hebrew University, the Miller Center at the University of Miami, and the International Survey of Jewish Monuments.
Dr. Gruber is the author of Synagogues (1999) and American Synagogues: A Century of Architecture and Jewish Tradition. His articles, book chapters, and lectures can be found online at Samuel Gruber’s Jewish Art and Monuments.
Beginning this summer, Dr. Gruber will present a six-part lecture series on the History of the Jews of Rome.
