{"nrhp_refnum":"09000968","name":"Shaari Zedek Synagogue","other_names":["Achavat Achim Synagogue","St. Leonard's Church"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"767 Putnam Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Brooklyn","county":"Brooklyn","state":"NY","lat":40.688479545000064,"lon":-73.93048533499996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2009-12-04","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Other-Ethnic","Religion"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story brick synagogue with cast-stone trim at 767 Putnam Avenue in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, built in 1909-10 to designs by architect Eugene Schoen. It later served as Achavat Achim Synagogue and, since 1944, as St. Leonard's Church.","why_significant":"The nomination argues it is a surviving, intact early 20th-century Brooklyn synagogue and an early work by Eugene Schoen, an influential modernist, combining classical elements with geometric brickwork and abstract ornament. It also reflects the neighborhood's shift from an Eastern European Jewish community to a predominantly West Indian congregation, which acquired it in 1944.","narrative":"Built in 1909-10 at 767 Putnam Avenue in Brooklyn's Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood, this two-story brick building was designed by Eugene Schoen for Shaari Zedek, a congregation of Eastern European origin. Its facade pairs a classical vocabulary with modern touches, including geometrically patterned brickwork, cast-stone trim and a triple-arched entrance. Inside, a sanctuary of round arches suggests a barrel vault, with a ringed balcony, painted abstract patterns and an original chandelier decorated with star-of-David motifs. The building passed in 1922 to Congregation Achavat Achim, a descendant of Brooklyn's oldest synagogue. In 1944, as the neighborhood changed, it became St. Leonard's Church, a congregation of largely West Indian origin in the Afro-American Orthodox denomination. Some alterations followed, such as removal of the pediment ornament, a wheelchair ramp and Christian symbols painted into the sanctuary. It is valued as an intact early synagogue, an early work by Schoen, and a record of two communities' religious life, and the church still occupies it.","period_of_significance":"1909-1959","architect_builder":"Schoen, Eugene","architectural_style":"No style.","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Still used as a religious facility, as St. Leonard's Church, with a few modifications made after 1944, including a removed pediment, added ramp and repainted Christian symbols.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:48.236329-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/09000968.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/09000968/fd94175b85-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/09000968/fd94175b85-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Smallbones","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:St_Leonards_with_bikes.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Smallbones</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:St_Leonards_with_bikes.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75318515","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaari_Zedek_Synagogue","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7459971"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/brooklyn/shaari-zedek-synagogue-09000968/"}