Ismaili Jamatkhana Temple

 temple  Add category

5-tory religious building originally completed as a police precinct in 1854. It was sold in 1964 to Yeshiva University and transformed into classrooms for students at two of the university's branches—Stern College for Women and the Teachers Institute for Women. Then in 1973 it was converted for use as a church and pastor's apartment, and today serves as a temple. The Ismaili Jamatkhana (Manhattan) is a place of gathering for prayer but also a space for intellectual discourse. The interior spaces display elements of Islamic design and architectural elements of Jamatkhanas throughout the world.

The building grows wider toward the back of the lot. The front facade is clad in red brick above a ground floor of light-brown brick. The entrance is in the 2nd from westernmost of the four bays, with a simple wooden door below a metal canopy. The other three bays at the ground floor have bronze-framed frosted-glass doors with transoms on top. There is a low, black metal fence out in front.

The upper floors, separated from the ground floor by a stone band course, have four bays of single-windows with brownstone sills and lintels with cornices. These floors are almost intact from their original appearance but for the lack of the shutters. The facade is crowned by a grey wooden roof cornice with scrolled brackets and panels.