page_title: Temple Israel of the City of New York
section_title: First buildings
hierarchical_section_title: Temple Israel of the City of New York / First buildings
caption_attribution_description: English: Plate 134 from: Bromley, George W. and Walter S. Atlas of the Borough of Manhattan City of New York. Desk and library edition. (New York: G. W. Bromley and Co., 1916) FOR KEY TO MAP SYMBOLS, CLICK HERE.
context_page_description: Temple Israel of the City of New York is a Reform congregation in Manhattan. It was incorporated in 1873 by German Jews.
  It purchased its first synagogue building Fifth Avenue and 125th Street in 1887, constructed its own at 201 Lenox Avenue and 120th Street in 1907, and constructed another at 210 West 91st Street in 1920. Its current Brutalist style building, at 112 East 75th Street on the Upper East Side, was completed in 1967.
  Since its founding, Temple Israel has been served by only five senior rabbis: Maurice Harris, William Rosenblum, Martin Zion, Judith Lewis, and David Gelfand since 2006.
context_section_description: In 1887, the congregation purchased a building at Fifth Avenue and 125th Street, and the following year re-dedicated it as their synagogue.
  Designed by John W. Welch, the building had been formerly owned by the Holy Trinity Church, and was constructed in 1869–1870. In 1888 the congregation also re-organized, changing its name to Temple Israel of Harlem. In 1898, the congregation celebrated its 25-year anniversary and 10 years in its current home.
  The congregation constructed its own synagogue building at 201 Lenox Avenue, at 120th Street, in 1907. The limestone building was not designed in the typical Moorish Revival style of other synagogues of the time; the designer, Arnold Brunner, argued that "synagogues have no traditional lines of architectural expression". According to David W. Dunlap, the building "looks like a Roman temple until you notice the Stars of David in the column capitals, fanlights, and spandrel panels", and "may rank as the single best Neoclassical synagogue in Manhattan". Temple Israel joined the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (now Union for Reform Judaism) in 1909, and a few years later merged with Shaarey Borocho (or Shaaray Beracha), a synagogue of Alsatian Jews.
  During World War I, the loyalties of the still mostly German-Jewish members were, at first, divided between the Central Powers and the Allied Powers, though Harris supported the Allies.
caption: "TEMPLE ISRAEL" and "TEMPLE HALL" on Lenox Avenue map in 1916
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