Stephen Wise Free Synagogue (New York City, New York)

 synagogue, Gothic revival (architecture), 1923_construction

4-story Neo-Medieval (with Gothic elements) synagogue originally completed in 1923 with three floors. Designed by Eisendrath & Horowitz, it is a Reform Jewish synagogue; the congregation was the first of multiple "free synagogue" branches in the early 20th century. From 1948-49, a new stone facade was constructed on the existing building by architect Bloch & Hesse, to harmonize with the design of the newer building the organization constructed immediately to the west to house the Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute, now York Prep School. Rabbi Stephen Wise served as the congregation's religious leader from his founding of the congregation in 1907 as the "Free Synagogue" until his death on April 19, 1949. At a meeting of the congregation in May 1949, members voted unanimously to incorporate Rabbi Wise's name into the formal name of the congregation.

The facade is clad in rough-faced, rusticated stone in shades of grey, with limestone trim. The large main entrance is centered in a tall pointed-arch, and has two sets of tall but narrow wooden double-doors atop low steps; an engaged column separates the two doorways. Carved in the limestone above the doors, the arch features two crests with menorahs. To the west of the main entrance, the ground floor has a single wooden door atop a couple steps and an end bay with wooden double-doors at sidewalk level. To the east there is another single wooden door (accessed by a long ramp to the east), and a wide opening with four windows. The facade ecesses slightly in steps toward the ends.

The tall midsection, into which the apex of the main entrance arch extends, has a very narrow slit window on either side; the eastern one is much taller. The upper level has two bays in the center, both with four arched windows framed in limestone; these are separated by a hooded niche, and the roof line above them has a stone panel with four roundels on each side and a central finial extending up from the niche. To either side there is a double-window. The west end bay has five windows, and the east one has paired double-windows, with an additional smaller bay at the far east end that has another double-window. The top floor is set back and faced in contemporary grey stucco, with a rooftop playground next to the mechanical bulkheads.