Central Synagogue (New York, N.Y.)

Central Synagogue (Congregation Ahawath Chesed Shaar Hashomayim;[3] Yiddish: צענטראַל-סינאַגאָגע) is a notable Reform synagogue located at 652 Lexington Avenue, at the corner of East 55th Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It was built in 1870–1872 and was designed by Henry Fernbach in the Moorish Revival style as a copy of Budapest's Dohány Street Synagogue.[6][7] It has been in continuous use by a congregation longer than any other in the state of New York, except Congregation Berith Sholom in Troy, New York,[4][8][9] and is among the oldest existing synagogue buildings in the United States.[10] The Ahawath Chesed congregation was founded in 1846 on Ludlow Street in Manhattan by German-speaking Jews from Bohemia. It merged in 1898 with Congregation Shaar Hashomayim, which was founded by German Jews in 1839 on Albany Street.[4][2][11] The combined congregation bought the lot at Lexington Avenue and East 55th Street and engaged Henry Fernbach, the country's first prominent Jewish architect, to design it.[3]