Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By simmons on July 12, 2017

The Beth Hamedrash Hagodol synagogue was largely destroyed in a massive fire. View Full Caption

DNAinfo/Janon Fisher

LOWER EAST SIDE The city's Landmarks Preservation Commission has approved a plan to knock down partsof the historicBeth Hamedrash Hagodolsynagogue, which was ravaged by fire when a teen set it ablaze in May.

The commission onTuesday signed off on the synagogue board's general application to demolishthe structure at 60 Norfolk St. with modifications giving engineers permission to remove the unsafe chunksof the crumbling building but requiring thatother parts be assessed and preserved if possible, according to LPC's Director of CommunicationsDamarisOlivo.

The commission found that the 167-year-old house of worship was significantly damaged by the May 14 inferno, and that parts of the structure especially on the west, north and south sides of the building must be removed because they pose a safety hazard, the Olivo said.

Other parts of the structure, however, need to be inspected before it is determined whether they can be saved, said Olivo.

The work will be monitored by the LPC's engineer and will be done in such a way that minimizes the amount of the structure that must be removed the facade will be demolished only to the extent that it must be in order to stabilize the structure, said Olivo.

The LPC'sinsistence on preservationechoes the wishes of both the synagogue's rabbi and engineers hired to assess the damage, who last month pledged to salvage as much of the synagogueas possible.

Engineers have said a full demolition is likely, but that they have not yet been able to assess parts of the structure because parts of the facade are dangerously unstable.

Rabbi Mendel Greenbaumhas also stated he will resurrect a synagogue at the site regardless of what happens to the original structure.

The beloved building hadserved the neighborhood's Russian Orthodox community for over a century, but had sat derelict for roughly a decade after falling into decay.

It was first built in 1850 as a Baptist church, then in 1885 was acquired by the oldest Russian Orthodox congregation in the country, LPC documents show. It was designated a city landmark in 1967.

But the structure had fallen into dangerous disrepair by 2007 and was shuttered by the rabbi, who says he had briefly considered demolition but ultimately favored preservation and had been fighting for the necessary funds for years.

Shortly before the fire, the rabbihad beenworking in partnership with the Chinese-American Planning Council to sell the synagogue's air rights to a developer in order to facilitate synagogue renovations and the construction of a neighboring community center the planning council has said they are still keen on pursuing a similar arrangement, but details and a timeline remain up in the air following the blaze.

The synagogue still must apply for a demolition permit through the Department of Buildings before work can begin. An application had not been filed as of Tuesday evening.

READ MORE:

Teen Accused of LES Synagogue Arson Released Without Charges, City Says

'Suspicious' Footage Shows 3 Fleeing Area Near Synagogue That Burned: NYPD

Historic LES Synagogue Fire Believed to Be Arson, NYPD Says

The rest is here:

City Approves Partial Demolition of Historic Synagogue on Lower East Side - DNAinfo

Category: Synagogue
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