111th St & 55th Ave
New York, NY 11368
Congregation Tifereth Israel is an Orthodox synagogue located in the Corona section of Queens, New York. It was founded by Ashkenazi Jews who had moved to Queens from Manhattan's Lower East Side. Estée Lauder and her parents were early members.The congregation constructed its synagogue building in 1911, a wooden Gothic and Moorish revival structure designed by Crescent L. Varrone, and modeled after the narrow tenement synagogues built on Manhattan's Lower East Side. The walls were later stuccoed. Neighborhood demographics changed, and most Jews moved away starting in the 1970s. By the 1990s, the remaining congregation was aged, and had difficulty paying for synagogue repairs and finding enough men for a prayer quorum.Bukharan Jews began moving to Corona in the 1990s, and in the mid-1990s began worshiping in Tifereth Israel's basement. Disputes between the old congregation and the Bukharan Jews and their new rabbi came to a head in 1997. Lawsuits in rabbinical and state courts led to the Bukharan congregation taking over the synagogue. The building deteriorated, and by 2008 was in need of $1.4 million in exterior repairs alone., the New York Landmarks Conservancy had begun $1.5 million in restoration work. Tifereth Israel's building was the oldest structure built as a synagogue in Queens, and the oldest synagogue building in Queens continuously used for worship.
The New York State Pavilion is a historic world's fair pavilion at Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Flushing, Queens, New York. The New York State Pavilion was designed for the 1964 New York World's Fair by architects Philip Johnson and Lev Zetlin, and built between 1962 and 1964.ArchitectureThe pavilion consists of three components of reinforced concrete and steel construction: the "Tent of Tomorrow", Observation Towers, and "Theaterama":The Tent of Tomorrow is elliptical in plan, and its sixteen 100-foot reinforced concrete piers once supported the largest cable suspension roof in the world. The main floor of the Tent was a large scale design of a Texaco highway map of New York State, made of terrazzo. An idea floated after the fair to use the floor for the World Trade Center didn't materialize.The Observation Towers are three concrete towers, with the tallest at 226ft high. The towers have observation platforms which were once accessed by two (now-removed) "Sky Streak capsule" elevators attached to the tallest (western) tower. The southern tower has a platform height of 85ft and the northern tower is at 160ft.Theaterama was originally a single drum-shaped volume of reinforced concrete. Additions to the original structure were made from 1992 to 1993 and from 2008 to 2009. The Theaterama is home to the Queens Theatre, a performing arts center which produces and presents theatre and dance, as well as children's and cultural programming.
The Congregation of Georgian Jews is an Orthodox synagogue at 6304 Yellowstone Boulevard, in the Flushing/Forest Hills neighborhood of Queens, New York. The members are late twentieth century immigrants from the Republic of Georgia.HistoryThe synagogue building was made possible by a donation from the Georgian Jewish philanthropist, Tamir Sapir.When the Republic of Georgia released a postage stamp honoring the nineteenth century Rabbi Abraam Khvoles, the unveiling ceremony was held at the synagogue by Revaz Adamia, representative of Georgia to the United Nations.Political defense of GeorgiaDuring the August 2008 Russian invasion of Georgia, U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner held an emergency meeting for the entire Georgian community in New York, Christian and Jewish, at the Congregation because the "ornate" synagogue is the only large, monumental structure built by Georgians in New York City.Current leadership, the Senior Rabbi is Avraham Ashville, and the Rabbi and youth director is Aharon Chein.