An iconic piece of Jewish history on the Lower East Side may go the way of pushcarts and tenements.
The Bialystoker Nursing Home, with its distinctive orange brick and Art Deco façade, has been closed for a year after financial problems forced its nonprofit operators to shut the doors.
Preservationists want the building — considered a monument to immigrants from Bialystok, Poland, and their arrival into America’s middle class — declared a landmark before it becomes another luxury-condo development on the newly hip Lower East Side.
Promotional photos at the time showed residents alongside chandeliers and pianos, according to a history of Bialystok immigrants by Rebecca Kobrin.
“We’re holding our breath,” said Joyce Mendelsohn, a founder of Friends of the Bialystoker Home. “We’re in a a very stressful period right now.”
The board of the defunct nursing home wants to sell the home and adjacent properties “as quickly as possible,” said a spokeswoman who maintained there was “significant interest” in the site. The home closed with substantial debt, including $3 million owed to union workers.
If the nursing home wins landmark status, such a real-estate deal would likely be less attractive to developers since the building could not be demolished. Councilwoman Margaret Chin, who represents the area, came out in support of landmarking in July in what Mendelsohn said was a crucial step.
But the neighborhood’s most powerful political leader, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, remained silent.
Silver said in a statement last week that if the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission decided to declare it a landmark, he would support that decision.
The LPC is currently weighing whether to move forward and hold a hearing to decide whether the nursing home should be a landmark.
More than 5,000 people were said to have crowded East Broadway to celebrate the home’s opening in 1931.
“This was an important place,” said Sam Solasz, 85, chairman of the nursing home’s board for 24 years. “I will fight no matter how much it costs.”