Sutton Place Synagogue

 synagogue  Add category

3-story modernist synagogue originally completed in 1975. A full renovation in 2001 by Michael Berkowicz, produced a facade clad in rough-faced brown granite in a 3-D geometric pattern and polished brown granite. The interior was redesigned in 2020.

The Sutton Place Synagogue has been considered the Jewish Center for the United Nations since 1965. Its congregation dates to 1901, when the synagogue was held in a loft above a Blacksmith's shop. In 1906 it moved into a building on East 51st Street purchased from the Congregation Orach Chaim. It became the conservative East 51st Street Synagogue in the 1950s.

Most of the facade is clad in the rough-faced granite, with various sized blocks arranged both vertically and horizontally, projecting to slightly different degrees. The building has a central entrance with two sets of large, black metal double-doors decorated with a pattern of circles; the entry is covered by a flat, dark-red canvas canopy extending out over the sidewalk. There is a granite planter box at the west end, and a pair of black metal service doors at the east end. Above the main entrance is a 2-story slab of polished granite, slightly projecting from the rest of the facade and extending above the main roof line, capped by a modillioned stone cornice. On either side is a group of three small windows with iron grilles.