Angel Orensanz Center

The Angel Orensanz Center is located at 172 Norfolk Street in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York. It is housed in a Gothic Revival synagogue, built in 1849 for Congregation Ansche Chesed .It is the oldest surviving synagogue building in New York City, and the fourth-oldest surviving synagogue building in the United States. It was the largest synagogue in the United States at the time of its construction, and is one of the few built in Gothic Revival style.The synagogue was built by Reform Congregation Ansche Chesed, a congregation of primarily German Jews that was the third Jewish congregation in New York City. The building was designed by Eisenach -born architect Alexander Saeltzer. It was sold to Congregation Shaari Rachmim in 1873, to The First Hungarian Congregation Ohab Zedek in 1886, and to congregation Sheveth Achim Anshe Slonim in 1921, which used it until 1974. That year, the synagogue was abandoned, and it was later vandalized.