Page 178 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - New York City

176  NE W Y ORK CIT Y AREA B Y AREA

t Central The stenciled interior is a colorful “horseshoe” arches
Banded
Synagogue mix of red, blue, ocher, and gilt and are typical of
was inspired by Victorian prints of
the Alhambra, the celebrated Hispano-
652 Lexington Ave. Map 13 A4. Moorish palace in Mooresque
Tel (212) 838–5122. q Lexington Granada, Spain. design.
Ave-53rd St. Open noon–2pm
Tue & Wed. 8 12:45pm Wed. 7
u 6pm Fri, also 9:30am Sat (Jul &
Aug), 10.30am Sat (Sep–Jun).
∑ centralsynagogue.org
This is New York’s
oldest building in
continuous use as a
synagogue. It was
designed in 1870 by
Silesian-born Henry
Fernbach, America’s
first prominent Jewish
architect. He also
designed some of
SoHo’s finest cast-iron
buildings. Restored
after a 1999 fire, the
Synagogue is
considered the city’s The ark holds the
best example of sacred scrolls of the
Moorish-Islamic Revival Jewish Holy Book,
The Torah.
architecture. The congreg-
ation was founded in 1846 as
Ahawath Chesed (Love of Mercy) The twin towers represent the two
by 18 immigrants, most columns that stood outside Solomon’s
of them from Bohemia, The facade is Temple. The domed minarets, which
an understated
on Ludlow Street on Moorish design rise 122 ft (37 m), are onion-shaped
the Lower East Side. in local brownstone. and made of green, patinated copper.
y Sutton Place noted architects. The arrival of for a glimpse of Riverview
New York society in the 1920s Terrace, a private street of
Map 13 C3. q 59th St, 51st St.
@ M15, M31, M57. transformed an area that had five ivy-covered brownstones
once been the province of fronting on the river. The tiny
Sutton Place is a posh, pleasant factories and tenements. Three parks at the end of 55th Street
neighborhood devoid of busy Sutton Square is the residence and jutting out at 57th Street
traffic, and made up of elegant of the secretary-general of the offer views of the river and the
low-rise apartment houses and United Nations. Look beyond Queensboro Bridge.
town houses designed by Sutton Square and 59th Street The Ed Koch Queensboro
Bridge, to give it its official
title, was named after the late
mayor. It was completed in
1909, and connected Queens
with Manhattan via Roosevelt
Island. A popular icon today, it
has featured in movies such as
Woody Allen’s Manhattan.

u Roosevelt Island
Map 14 D2. q 59th St. Tram,
Roosevelt Island station (F).
∑ rioc.com
An often overlooked corner
of New York, Roosevelt Island
sits in the middle of the East
Park at Sutton Place, looking toward Queensboro Bridge and Roosevelt Island River, and has around 13,000

176-177_EW_New_York_City.indd 176 4/3/17 11:11 AM