166-178 Amsterdam
This block was a shopping area built along with the Lincoln
Square urban renewal project. It fronts a curiously desolate
stretch of Amsterdam Avenue that begins with Amsterdam Houses
and the forbidding west wall of Lincoln Center, passes two
public high schools and ends with the considerably more
vibrant Verdi Square at the confluence of Amsterdam and
Broadway.
When I arrived in the neighborhood in 1991, the building
hosted a Woolworth's department store, a Burger King, some
medical offices and a Jenny Craig. The southern portion
was gutted in the late 2000s, presumably for development that
never materialized. The northern portion was demolished to
make way for a $20 million, 62,000 square foot building
for Lincoln Square Synagogue.
The block is anchored to the north by a former NYPL branch,
a drive into Lincoln Square and the old Lincoln Square
Synagogue building.
5/17/2007 05:00 PM
Full block |
5/17/2007 06:11 PM
Gutted interior |
5/17/2007 06:11 PM
New synagogue site |
5/17/2007 06:12 PM
Full block |
8/3/2010 12:56 PM
New synagogue under construction |
8/3/2010 12:57 PM
New synagogue under construction |
8/3/2010 12:58 PM
New synagogue under construction |
8/3/2010 12:57 PM
Derelict southern portion |
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