Troy's One Hundred Years by Arthur James Weise

Perhaps this answers the question regarding the mention of the date of 1873 on the River Street building. The first place in which it worshipped was in a building on the east side of Fourth Street, between Liberty and Washington streets. Polish and Russian people compose the congregation organized in 1873. 'Shaare Tephilla, (Gates of Prayer) on the third floor of the building on the northeast corner of River and Congress Streets.

I note that page 181 of the book 'The city of Troy and its Vicinity', published in 1886 by Arthur James Weise (available for download in its entirety on Google books) mentions the Jewish congregation of 'Shaare Tephilla', founded in Troy in 1873. On the Lower East in New York the tiny Stanton Street Shul, built in 1913, also employs classicism on its facade, though little else in the building suggests not the glories of the ancient world of Greece and Rome - but only Galicia, the land of Yiddishkeit.

If any part of Beth Tefilah is from 1909 I'll have to reconsider what is going on. After the war, Reform tends to move to new styles, while through the 1920s Conservative and Orthodox congregations more commonly employ classicism in their own way.

Was the design of the building changed during construction, or was the classical facade added to an earlier building in 1909 to give it a new look? I've just written an article that is coming out in the journal Jewish History in which I make the case that the revival in classicism - especially in making fully formed classical temples for Reform congregations - was part of the broad branding process of Reform Judaism in the period from about 1900 until World War I. Was the congregation founded in 1873? Does the main bulk of the building - which clearly has internal galleries for women - date this early (I don't think so)? All I've found online are the mention of two dates for the building - 18. From the outside it looks like an earlier block or two-tower facade has been modified to create a partly classical facade, or perhaps an entirely new facade has been grafted on to the main body of the building. I have not been inside the building, I haven't found anything in my files, and I haven't yet researched this locally, but the application of a Classical portico on the facade of the otherwise very unclassical building intrigues me. In addition to the 1870 Reform Congregation Berith Sholom in Troy, New York, of which I have just written, I was intrigued by the architecture and urban survival of the Orthodox Congregation Beth Tephilah at 82 River Street, right on the southeast corner of Russel Sage College, where it has survived surrounded by parking lots.

Troy's One Hundred Years by Arthur James Weise