Record Group 6: Buildings

Series: A, 3080 Broadway

  • Dates: ca. 1929-1930
  • Quantity: ca. 24 items
  • Languages: English
  • Location: Special Collections Reading Room, Jewish Theological Seminary Library.
  • Transferred by: Vice-Chancellor John Ruskay, August 27, 1990
  • Restrictions: Jewish Theological Seminary records are available for research, with permission, through 1972; records dating from 1973 and afterward are currently closed. For permission to see records of The Jewish Theological Seminary write to: Archivist, Ratner Center for the Study of Conservative Judaism, Jewish Theological Seminary, 3080 Broadway, New York, NY 10027. Reproduction of fragile items is not permitted; consult the archivist about literary rights.
  • Related Collections: For many additional pictures of 3080 Broadway see the Ratner Center Photograph Collection.

BF, 10/2/90; JM, 12/2/91

Table of Contents:

A Note on Folder Headings

Individual folders are identified in the following way: record group# -- box# -- folder#, as in R.G.1-10-32. Please use this format in citations and when referring to files for any other reason.

Historical Note

[see caption]
Entrance to the breezeway, courtyard side, ca. 1930. Photographer: Gilkison Architectural Photography, New Rochelle, NY.

In 1887 the Seminary began its first term at New York's Congregation Shearith Israel. It subsequently held classes at the Cooper Union, 1887-1891, and at 220 East 12 St., 1891-1892, before acquiring its first building at 736 Lexington Ave near 59th St. where it remained from 1892 to 1903. The Lexington Ave. building, which was bought in the Spring of 1892 with the help of Jacob Schiff, contained classrooms, dormitory rooms, a library, a synagogue, and a meeting room. In the Spring of 1903 the Seminary moved to a new building at 531-535 W. 123d St., paid for, once again, by Schiff. The Seminary remained in the 123d St. building until 1929. With donations from Mortimer Schiff, Israel Unterberg, and Louis Brush, the Seminary constructed its present buildings at 3080 Broadway, and moved into them in 1930. These buildings were designed by the architectural firm of Gehron and Ross, with David Levy, Associate Architect.

Collection Description

This collection consists of materials documenting the design, construction, and dedication of the Seminary's current building at 3080 Broadway in Manhattan. Included are photographs of architectural models, renderings of interiors and exteriors of the buildings as proposed and completed, copies of the dedication program, 1930; and issues of the United Synagogue Reporter, April 1929, containing an article by architect William Gehron about the buildings.