Tonight at the Theater for the New City, two preservation groups are sponsoring an event titled “Past, Present and Future of the Mezritch Synagogue.” For the past few years, the East Village Community Coalition, the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation and other groups have been leading an effort to landmark the synagogue. Controversy has been swirling around the shul, 415 East 6th Street, since 2008 when its board considered partnering with a developer to demolish the building and construct a new, mixed use facility.
Tonight’s panel discussion will include architectural historian Justin Ferate, writer and historian Joyce Mendelsohn, and synagogue historian/geographer Elissa Sampson. The program will be moderated by Laurie Tobias-Cohen, Executive Director of the Lower East Side Jewish Conservancy. They’ll explore the shul’s “architectural significance, and (its) religious background, while looking towards the future of …(the building’s) and its living community.” The structure is the East Village’s last operating tenement synagogue.
The Theater for the New City is located at 155 First Avenue. Tonight’s event begins at 6 – reservations are required. RSVP to rsvp@gvshp.org or (212) 475-9585 ext. 35.
