The Synagogues of New York's Lower East Side: A Retrospective and Contemporary View, 2nd Edition

X. The Bialystoker Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing (“The Bialystoker Home”)

x. the bialystoker center for rehabilitation and nursing (“The Bialystoker Home for the Aged” or “The Bialystoker Home”) (Closed) 228 East Broadway (between Clinton and Pitt Streets) the bialystoker center, commonly known in the neighborhood as The BialystokerHome, should not be confused with the previously described BialystokerSynagogue. The long history of the BialystokerHome forthe Aged (later renamedtheBialystokerCenterforRehabilitationandNursing ) began in 1864 when residents from Bialystok, Poland created one of New York’s first and largest landsmanshaftn, orimmigrant mutual aid societies. In 1923, a federation of organizations funded by immigrants from Bialystok began planning and raising funds for the construction of a community center. By 1926, while the buildingwasunderconstruction,thefunctionwasreoriented to that of a nursing home for the elderly. Those diagrams showthewords“BikurCholim”attheentrance,meaningthat the building was meant to take care of the infirm and aged. Traditionally,aBikurCholimwasatraditionalsocietyforvisiting and aiding the sick in Eastern Europe. The Bialystoker Home, opened in the Depression, was largely paid forby poorerimmigrant families and became its own centerforJewish philanthropy. The building was situated in the familiarsurroundings of the immigrants’ neighborhood to be easily accessible for visits from family and friends. This remarkable structure survived generations of Jewish immigrants and theirdescendants in the community. Of interest is to note that the building was constructed in1926,thesameyearastheParisexposition,Expositioninternationaledesartsd écoratifsetindustrielsmodernes (International 179 18317-Wolfe_Synagogues 9/24/12 12:05 PM Page 179 ExpositionofModernIndustrialandDecorativeArts)—the international design fair that not only influenced the BialystokerHome ’sexterior,butwhoseabbreviatednamegives usthemoniker,“ArtDeco.”TheBialystokerHomeinitsstylish modern trappings was very much “cutting edge” in its design. Indeed, it was a very aspirational and inspirational building forthe neighborhood. For Bialystokers living on the Lower East Side, the Bialystoker Home acted as a center for Bialystok’s worldwide Jewish Diaspora that played an important religious and socialroleinthecommunity.TheHomehousedasynagogue and also acted as a central networking location forlocal residents and a means of maintaining ties forged in the Old Country. According to historian Rebecca Kobrin, a professor of American Jewish history at Columbia University and authorof JewishBialystokandItsDiaspora, in the 1930s, there were reportedly 40,000 Jewish residents from Bialystok living in the LowerEast Side. In addition to the Bialystoker Home, there were two Bialystokersynagogues in the neigh180 the “lost” or endangered synagogues The ornate entrance to the Bialystoker Center Building is framed by Jewish zodiac roundels representing the 12 tribes of Israel. The doorway is surmounted by a carved “Bialystoker” cement block. Pair of Art Deco roundels. Half of the left roundel is an ox representing Manassah, grandson of Joseph; the right half depicts a ram, for his brother Ephraim, Genesis 12:6–8. 18317-Wolfe_Synagogues 9/24/12 12:05 PM Page 180 borhood—one of which is still extant on BialystokerPlace (Willett Street). (See Bialystoker Synagogue, section 2 under“The Active Synagogues.”) Unfortunately,theBialystokerHomehasjustbeenclosed anditsbuildingisupforsale.Thepatientsandresidentshave allbeendispersedtootherlocationsinthecity,andtheonceactivesecond -floorsynagoguehasbeenshutdown.Recently a new organization, called the Friends of the Bialystoker Home, was established to help preserve the structure and is actively campaigning to convince the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission to designate the building as an official historic landmark. The massive ten-story Art Deco brick structure, completed in 1931 from plans by architect Harry Hurwit, displays rows distinctive setbacks the bialystoker center for rehabilitation and nursing 181 The right roundel represents the Canaanite city of Shechem, now Nablus, in northern Israel, ca. 1350 BC Notice on door 18317-Wolfe_Synagogues 9/24/12 12:05 PM Page 181 adorned with geometric patterns. The former Home’s golden-brick façade is thought to be reminiscent of the ancient stonework of Jerusalem, and the building is often referred to as the LowerEast Side’s “Jewish Landmark.” Particularlystrikingisthebuilding’sarchedentranceway, emblazoned with two cast-stone menorahs and twelve sculpted medallions, each representing one of the twelve tribes of Israel, rendered in an Art Deco manner. The name “Bialystoker” in ornate “Hebrew-style” English letters— also influenced by Art Deco—is set conspicuously above the doorway. The impressive building and its nearby neighbor , the Seward Park Branch of the New York Public Library, are the only two surviving structures on the oncecrowded north side of East Broadway. 182 the “lost” or endangered synagogues 18317-Wolfe_Synagogues 9/24/12 12:05 PM Page 182 ...