A Revolution in Public-School Design:Charles B. J. Snyder’s

Legacy

jean.arrington@gmail.com

New buildings and additions

Demolished buildings and additions

Existing buildings and additions

Still Public Schools

Manhattan 107 NBs + 26 addns = 133 38 + 22 = 60 69 + 4 = 73 (55%) 49 – 67%

Bronx 54 NBs + 7 addns = 61 9 + 6 = 15 45 + 1 = 46 (75%) 43 – 93%

Brooklyn 115 NBs + 17 addns = 132 14 + 11 = 25 101 + 6 = 107 (81%) 94 – 88%

Queens 49 NBs + 10 addns = 59 10 + 9 = 19 39 + 1 = 40 (68%) 38 – 95%

Staten Island

19 NBs + 4 addns = 23 6 + 2 = 8 13 + 2 = 15 (65%) 11 – 73%

Totals 344 NBs + 64 addns = 408 77 + 50 = 127 267 + 14 = 281 (69%) 235 – 84%

“Radical and interestinginnovations in schoolhouse architecture,”Edmund Wheelwright, 1899

Snyder “was hired to reform school design and instead created a revolution, setting a standard for municipal architecture that has proved hard to match.” Christopher Gray, New York Times 1998

PS 8 (1887)Debevoise,King x Varick

PS 25 (1871), East Village (demolished)

1884 Real Estate Record and Guide: “There is not a public school in New York which is even a decently creditable piece of architecture.”

PS 79, EastVillage, nowcondos

Jacob Riis, The Battle with the Slum (1902)he Slum. 1902. Ch XIII. Justice to the Boy

“Three-quarters of the public school buildings in New York are defective or unsanitary to a greater or lesser degree.” (New York Times 3 January 1895)

1899 1914

Daily school attendance

350,000 688,000*

Staffing 10,000 20,000

School appropriations**

$15,300,000 $44,600,000

*Greater than the combined public dayschool populations of the next 5 largest cities in the country (Chicago, Philadelphia,St. Louis, Boston, and Cleveland)

**An additional $105 million had beenexpended for school sites and buildings.

PS 23 (1893), Bayard x MulberryNow Chinese community center

“In the first and most essential particular, the new buildings are fireproof throughout, of steel skeleton construction, with steel beams and brick arches for the foundation of the floor system,terra cotta partitions, iron and stone stairs, and an abundance of light and air. “(1898 Edu’l Review)

“Does a silk mill or office building need more light than a school room? Is the work more important? You will answer “no” to both questions. Then let us...have the funds [for buildings] that will not be a menace to the eyesight and health of the pupils and teachers, and a reproach to the system.”

PS 73, 1921 addition to an 1888Building by Naughton, landmarked,Brownsville, Ocean Hill, Brooklyn

Public School 25, now PS 751 (1894 with 1908 addition) , 4th St x 2nd Ave/1st Ave, East Village

“Sincere appreciation for your policy of using the judgment of those whom you expect to occupy a projected building. …The usual attitude of a school architect toward a teacher is “Mind your own business, this is mine.” It seems to me that your policy of interchange of views corrects and broadens both the builder and the occupant.” Washington Irving High School (1913),

Irving Place x 15th/16th (East of Union Sq)

PS 67 (1894)46th x 5th/6th

Landmarked

Later High School of thePerformingArts

NowJackie K.O’nassisHigh SchoolforInternationalCareers

PS 72 Annex(1924)Lexington Avex 105/106 Sts

Morris High School, 1904, the Bronx

Public School 188, 1903, East Houston St.

PS 4 (1898 w 1917 addn)On Crotona Park in the Bronx

MorrisHighSchool, 1904, Bronx

Washington Irving High School, 1913, near Union Square

DeWitt Clinton HS (1906), 10th Ave x 58/59th St, later Haaren HS , now John Jay College of Criminal Justice/CUNY

Morris HS (1904)169th St x Boston RdBronx, landmarked

Wadleigh HS for Girls(1902), Harlemlandmarked

FormerStuyvesant HS (1908)15th/16th StX 1st/2nd Ave,landmarked

“The man who builds our beautiful schools” Jacob Riis, The Battle with the Slum (1902)

“Snyder does that which no architect before his time ever did or tried, he “builds them beautiful.” ... Literally, he found barracks, where he is leaving palaces to the people.”

PS 158 (1899)77th/78th x York Ave

PS 109 (1901) 99th/100th x 2nd/3rd NRHP

PS 31 (1900), 144th x Grand Concourse, Bronx

) PS 175 (1914)Brownsville, Bk

PS 4 (1898), Crotona Park, Bronx

PS 169 (1900)PS 32 Bronx (1900)

PS 31 Bronx (1900)

Morris High School (1904), Bronx

Erasmus HS (1906/1911), landmarked, Flatbush Ave x Church/Snyder Sts.

Flushing HS (1915), landmarked

Public School 189 (1923)188/189 x Amsterdam, ws

Hotel de Cluny, Paris- possible inspiration

Public School 165 (1900), 108/108 x Broadway/Amsterdam

PS 170 (1901), 111th/112th x 5th/Lenox, demolished

The original DeWitt-Clinton HS (1906), the Haaren HS, now John Jay School of Criminal Justice. Behind Lincoln Center

PS 109 (1901), 99th/100th x 2nd/3rd, NRHP

PS 179 (1901, 1995), 101st/102nd x Columbus/Amsterdam

PS 186 (1903) , Harlem, abandoned since 1975

“We seek to make the school building itself quite as mucha factor in education as the textbooks.” New York Tribune 9 April 1892

Wadleigh HS for Girls 1902), Harlem, landmarked

“A beautiful and regal building, the Wadleigh school was a profound reminder to students of individual and collective dignity… All over Harlem Snyder reinforced the notion of the specialness of young citizens with splendid new buildings.”Michael Henry Adams, Harlem Lost and Found

Ideas Snyder Schools Convey / Morals They Inculcate Students matter. Education is important and a big enterprise.

Normal College (1913), now Hunter College, UES

PS 27 (1898), overlookingSt. Mary’s Park in the Bronx

Education is enlightening and uplifting. It brings balance to your life.

PS 158 (1899)77/78 x York Ave

PS 96 (1895)81/82 x York Avedemolished

PS 7 (1893), Hester x Chrystie, se cor, demolished

“The style symbolized the fact that the education received by New York’s poor and immigrant residents was every bit as good (if not better) than that at the nation’s most prestigious schools.” --Andrew Dolkart

Education, ideals, and beauty are for everyone equally.

jean.arrington@gmail.com

Ideas Snyder Schools Convey / Morals They Inculcate Education is important and a big enterprise. Students are worthy. Education is uplifting.

“Does a silk mill or office building need more light than a school room? Is the work more important? You will answer “no” to both questions. Then let us...have the funds [for buildings] that will not be a menace to the eyesight and health of the pupils and teachers, and a reproach to the system.”

Public School 59 (1871) with 1909 Snyder addition (demolished)

PS 27 (1898), now 277,On St. Mary’s Park, Bronx

PS 127 (1902), BrooklynPS 34 (1904), Staten Island (demolished)

PS 85 (1908), Long Island City, Queens

PS 133 (1901)Park Slope, Brooklyn

PS 19 (1893), Bronx (demolished)

PS 157 (1900) St Nicholas, ws x 126/127

PS 175 (1914), Brownsville,Brooklyn

A Revolution in Public-School Design:The Legacy ofNew York City’sCharles B. J. Snyder

jean.arrington@gmail.com