{"nrhp_refnum":"74001260","name":"Leopold Street Shule","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"30 Leopold St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Rochester","county":"Monroe County","state":"NY","lat":43.164917227000046,"lon":-77.60421258699995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1974-06-07","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["European","Architecture","Religion"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A brick synagogue at 30 Leopold Street in Rochester, Monroe County, New York, built in 1886 for the Beth Israel Congregation and known locally as the Leopold Street Shule.","why_significant":"It is described as the oldest Orthodox Jewish synagogue standing in Rochester, built by Eastern European immigrants. It is considered the key landmark of local Jewish heritage. It also reflects the movement of urban ethnic groups in late nineteenth and twentieth century American social history.","narrative":"Built in 1886 at 30 Leopold Street in Rochester, this brick synagogue housed the Beth Israel Congregation, popularly called the Leopold Street Shule. It rests on a high cut-stone foundation, with a double cast iron staircase, a rose window and a curved tin false facade on the west front. Inside, galleries run along the sides and rear, and a newspaper of the day said it would seat about 800 people. Painted decoration, gas fixtures, chandeliers and stained glass survive. Eastern European Jewish immigrants raised the building at a cost of $15,000, in a close-knit neighborhood apart from Rochester's earlier German Jewish settlers. It is described as the oldest standing Orthodox synagogue in the city. Beth Israel grew from two congregations that merged in 1874, and it led local Orthodox life into the early twentieth century. As younger generations moved away, membership shrank, and the congregation closed in January 1973. A Black congregation, the Church of God and Saints of Christ, bought the building that August.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Congregation closed in January 1973; building sold in August 1973 to the Church of God and Saints of Christ, and form lists it as occupied, in good condition, and altered.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:38.701409-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/74001260.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/74001260/3c93c32fc1-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/74001260/3c93c32fc1-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"DanielPenfield","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:LeopoldStreetShuleFront.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">DanielPenfield</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:LeopoldStreetShuleFront.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75318862","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopold_Street_Shule","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6527061"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/monroe-county/leopold-street-shule-74001260/"}