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FORMER STUYVESANT HIGH SCHOOL, 1905-07
345 East 15th Street
(also known as 331-351 East 15th Street and 326-344 East 16th
Streets) Manhattan
Architect: C.B.J. Snyder
Designated: May 20, 1997
Originally a “manual
training” school for boys, designed to teach the practical application of
science and art to industry, the former Stuyvesant High School was one of
the first built after the consolidation of the New York City boroughs in
1898 and the subsequent creation of a citywide system of public education.
The five-story, H-plan building has two side courts that provide light and
ventilation. Designed in a Beaux Arts style with distinctive classical and
Secessionist detail, the main façade is read brick above a limestone base,
the “Stuyvesant High School” inscribed above the entrance.
Stuyvesant quickly became one of the most prestigious
high schools in the city, noted for mathematics, technology and especially
the sciences. Since the 1930s, admission has been based on a competitive
entrance examination. In 1967, a Brooklyn girl sued the Board of Education
to gain admission to Stuyvesant, and the subsequent court decision opened
the school to girls in 1969. Among the many notable Stuyvesant alumni are
three Nobel Prize winners: Joshua Lederberg, class of ’41, for physiology
and medicine; Robert W. Fogel, class of ’44, for economics; and Roald
Hoffmann, class of ’55, for chemistry.
In 1992 Stuyvesant High relocated to a new facility in
Battery Park City. The original building remains in use by the High School
for Health Professional, the Institute for Collaborative Education, and P.S.
226, a special-education program.
From "The Landmarks of New York III" page 463 top
Author: Barbaralee Diamondstein, Publisher: Abrams |
