Museum at Eldridge Street in New York

The Museum at Eldridge Street is a museum housed in a synagogue dating from 1887, built by Eastern European Jewish immigrants on the Lower East Side. It is one of the city’s most beautiful buildings, featuring stained-glass windows, chandeliers and a vaulted ceiling dotted with golden stars. During a visit to the museum, you’ll learn how thousands of immigrants built a new life here in America’s busiest neighbourhood.

Buy tickets for the Museum at Eldridge Street here

Eldridge Street Synagogue

In the late nineteenth century, thousands of Eastern European immigrants lived on the Lower East Side, a large proportion of whom were Jewish. In 1887, that community built its own synagogue here, the first large one in America. In the years that followed, the community gradually dwindled, and the main hall was eventually closed. After years of neglect, the building has been fully restored over the course of twenty years and is now a museum.

Inside the Museum at Eldridge Street

The Museum at Eldridge Street is officially a National Historic Landmark. The wood carvings, paintings and chandeliers have all been restored, so you step into a room that looks just as it did in the past. On the top floor, part of the wall has deliberately been left unrestored, so that it is clearly visible how the synagogue was built with wood and plaster.

No original design for the east wall could be found. Artist Kiki Smith and architect Deborah Gans therefore designed a new window filled with golden stars, with a Star of David in the centre.

Practical Information

• Location: 12 Eldridge Street in the Lower East Side
• How to get there: Take subway line F to East Broadway, BD to Grand Street, or 6NQRJZ to Canal Street station.

Buy tickets for the Museum at Eldridge Street here

Tickets for the Museum at Eldridge Street are also included in the New York Pass and the Explorer Pass.