{"nrhp_refnum":"72000861","name":"Bialystoker Synagogue","other_names":["Willett Street Methodist Episcopal Church"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"7-13 Willett St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"New York","county":"Manhattan","state":"NY","lat":40.71559247000005,"lon":-73.98306833199996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1972-04-26","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Religion"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story stone building with an attic at 7-13 Willett Street in Manhattan, built in 1826 as the Willett Street Methodist Episcopal Church and later used as the Bialystoker Synagogue.","why_significant":"The nomination presents it as a small, sturdy late Federal period building and one of the few surviving ecclesiastical buildings of that era in New York City. It is a fine example of vernacular masonry construction with simple classical detail. Its change from church to synagogue in 1905 also records the shift in the neighborhood's population.","narrative":"Built in 1826 at 7-13 Willett Street on Manhattan's Lower East Side, this two-story stone building with an attic began as the Willett Street Methodist Episcopal Church. It has a rectangular plan, masonry bearing walls of random ashlar, a three-bay east facade, and round-arched doors and windows with masonry frames. A low-pitched roof carries a wood-cornice pediment around a lunette window, and a brownstone base course runs along the front. Its plain classical detail is described as reminiscent of a time when lower Manhattan had a more rural atmosphere. In 1905 the building became the Bialystoker Synagogue, requiring very little modification. That change of use reflects the neighborhood's shift from a semi-rural Protestant community to a more commercial area, where an incoming Jewish population replaced residents who moved uptown. It is valued as a fine example of vernacular masonry construction and as one of the few surviving Federal period religious buildings in New York City.","period_of_significance":"19th Century (specific date 1826)","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Late Federal period, vernacular masonry tradition with simple classical detail","criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed as occupied, in religious use, in good condition and unaltered, on its original site.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:39.594063-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/72000861.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/72000861/69873ce051-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/72000861/69873ce051-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Beyond My Ken","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bialystoker_Synagogue.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Beyond My Ken</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bialystoker_Synagogue.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"00001015","name":"Lower East Side Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/new-york/lower-east-side-historic-district-00001015/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75319295","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bialystoker_Synagogue","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4902461"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/manhattan/bialystoker-synagogue-72000861/"}