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journals provided references that were adapted by architects for new de-
signs.
Samuel Gruber, Director of the Jewish Heritage Council, has noted
that a central dome over the sanctuary became a common feature in syna-

gogues from the early 20th century and especially after the First World
War. Important Jewish houses of worship were often designed in the Byz-
antine and Romanesque mode.

Greek immigrants, who were strongly identified with Eastern Ortho-
doxy and Byzantine culture, erected their first American church, Holy
Trinity Church, in Lowell, Massachusetts between 1906 and 1908. Initiat-
ing a pattern that would be followed throughout the century, the local ar-

chitect visited Byzantine churches in Istanbul and elsewhere as sources for
the domed, cruciform-plan building. The first Greek Orthodox church built
in New York State, the Cathedral of Sts. Constantine and Helen in Brook-

lyn Heights (architect unknown, 1916), is an excellent representative of the
Byzantine style.
Greek immigrant communities also purchased existing churches or

synagogues for conversion to Orthodox houses of worship. This often ne-
cessitated the addition of liturgical necessities such as chancel screens and
icons.

Newly built Greek Orthodox churches, schools, and community cen-
ters proliferated after the Second World War. Architects and congregations
were attracted to both traditional and modern interpretations of Byzantine
architecture. "In the psychology of the prosperous immigrant, Byzantine

architecture was his greatest ethnic offering to the new homeland which
had enabled him to prosper economically and socially," writes architect
Stephen P. Papadatos in the History of the Greek Orthodox Church in

America (1984). Papadatos, the leading practitioner of the Byzantine style
in America today, refers to specific Early Christian and Byzantine models
as well as generic types.
For newly built and existing churches, Greek-trained iconographers

are employed to paint or add icons. More costly mosaics are often im-
ported from Greece. Similar windows appear in many Byzantine-inspired
churches, although some congregations install stained glass windows with

images of saints.
In contrast to the ubiquitous revival styles found in 19th-century
churches, such as the Greek Revival, Gothic, and Romanesque, the Byzan-

tine style began much later and is much less known. Remarkably, a style
that emerged 1,500 years ago in the vast and powerful Eastern Empire has

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