East Village Synagogue, Slated for Conversion, Now Under Review for Landmarking
By Billy Gray October 29, 2013 12:39 pm
reprintsA coalition of downtown historical groups has successfully rallied the Landmarks Preservation Commission to review the status of an East 14th Street synagogue recently put on the market for $13.95 million and a conversion to residential or commercial use.
The LPC was going to consider the Tifereth Israel Town and Village Synagogue at 334 East 14th Street for possible landmarking today, but EV Grieve reports that the hearing has been postponed until next month. 
Massey Knakal was exclusively marketing the 147-year-old property in a listing that mentioned 24,780 square feet of buildable space. The firm said that the synagogue was looking to relocate to another address in the neighborhood. In an October 2nd letter to the LPC, the Greenwich Village Society for Historical Preservation and like-minded groups noted the cultural and architectural significance of the onion-domed structure that initially served as the First German Baptist Church. The building actually went up for landmark designation in 1966, shortly after the formation of the LPC.
“Given that this…unique German Baptist-Ukrainian Orthodox-American Jewish edifice has been waiting for 47 years to be considered a landmark, and its future is now in jeopardy,” the letter reads, “we ask that the [LPC] act quickly to consider its merits.”
