The former Colored School No. 4 retains its original form and configuration, and windows on the second and third floor. Image Credit: LPC.

On February 14, 2023, the Landmarks Preservation Commission voted to calendar the former Colored School No. 4 as an individual landmark. The former school, located at 128 West 17th Street in Chelsea, Manhattan, is the only surviving school building that exclusively served African American students in Manhattan in the second half of the 19th century. The building serves as a significant reminder of racially segregated education in New York City, and the accomplishments of notable figures associated with the school. 

The three-story building was constructed in 1849-1850 by the New York City Public School Society. The building’s design follows the Model Primary School House plan, with a 25-foot wide four-bay facade, large multi-pane windows, and two entrances for boys and girls on the first level. The school, built like a row house, was built to accommodate approximately 300 students aged five to seven. The first story served as an indoor play area and wood storage. Students sat in long rows parallel to the sides of the building, with girls on the second floor and boys on the third.   

In 1853, when the Board of Education was established, the building was transferred to the City of New York. The school was known as “Colored School No.7” starting in 1860 and “Colored School No. 4” in 1866. At this time, eight primary schools served almost 2,400 African American students in Manhattan. The Board of Education dropped the term “Colored” from schools in 1884, and the school became Grammar School No. 81. The school continued to exclusively serve African American students until 1894, when the segregated schools were closed. 

The school is also associated with several notable teachers and students. Sarah J.S. (Tompkins) Garnet, the school’s principal, was one of the first African American women to serve as a principal in New York City public schools. She was also a suffragist and activist. She helped establish the Equal Suffrage League of Brooklyn. During the New York Draft Riots in July 1863, Garnet and her staff stopped rioters from storming the school building, protecting the children. 

Other notable figures associated with the school include Joan Imogen Howard, a teacher, who became a manager at the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Classical violinist Walter F. Craig and Susan Elizabeth Frazier, who became the first African American teacher at an integrated school in New York City, were both students at the former Colored School No. 4. 

The almost 175 year-old building has some alterations but maintains the pre-Civil War urban schoolhouse design. The facade was reclad with beige brick in the 1930s and doors and windows were replaced on the first floor, but the building maintains its form and configuration. 

Another remaining school building, the former Colored School No. 3, is the only one in Brooklyn, and was designated a landmark in 1998. Landmarks staff noted that the post-Reconstruction era of African American history in New York City is important but “less well represented” by currently designated landmarks. 

While the building no longer serves as a school, it is still the property of the City, now through the Department of Sanitation, which has used the building since 1936.

Landmarks unanimously voted to calendar the former Colored School No. 4. A public hearing will be held at a later date. 

By: Veronica Rose (Veronica is the CityLaw fellow and a New York Law School graduate, Class of 2018.)

The Hotel Chelsea

Despite opposition concerns, Chetrit Group gained approval to restore landmarked hotel’s facade and build rooftop addition to serve as a lounge. On April 24, 2012, Landmarks approved the Chetrit Group’s revised proposal to carry out exterior renovations and alterations to the landmarked Hotel Chelsea at 222 West 23rd Street in Chelsea, Manhattan. The 1883 Victorian Gothic hotel is notable not only for its architecture, but also for being a former home to a long list of notable artists and writers. Arthur C. Clarke wrote “2001: A Space Odyssey” while at the hotel, Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan both memorialized the hotel in songs, and Andy Warhol used the hotel as the setting for his film Chelsea Girls. The Chetrit Group purchased the property in 2011 and plans to restore the hotel’s facade and build a one-story rooftop addition. Hotel Chelsea residents, neighbors, and elected officials opposed Chetrit’s proposal.

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Private developer will purchase and adaptively reuse portion of General Theological Seminary and construct a new residential building. On July 19, 2011, Landmarks approved the Brodsky Organization’s plan to develop a six-story residential building on a site occupied by a tennis court within the General Theological Seminary’s campus at 400 West 21st Street in the Chelsea Historic District. The Seminary’s campus comprises one full block between West 20th and West 21st Streets, and Ninth and Tenth Avenues. Brodsky’s proposal also includes converting the adjacent West Building and three brick townhouses used as faculty housing into residential uses.

In an attempt to address its financial problems, the Seminary in 2006 first partnered with Brodsky to replace a dilapidated four-story building at the corner of West 21st Street and Ninth Avenue.   (more…)

Commissioners found additions’ visibility appropriate for Chelsea and the nearby High Line. On February 9, 2010, Landmarks approved 513 West 26th Street LLC’s proposal to construct rooftop additions on three, conjoined former factory buildings at 515 through 521 West 26th Street in the West Chelsea Historic District. The brick factory buildings, built between 1911 and 1921, vary in height from nine to three stories.

The applicant’s original proposal, presented on October 20, 2009, included three rectangular additions partially concealed by raised parapets and set back ten feet from the front facade and flush with the rear facade. As originally proposed, the additions featured translucent, glazed curtain walls of fritted glass which would be visible from several vantage points, including the High Line.

Shea Murdock, from Murdock Young Architects, argued that visible additions were appropriate for the location because there would be dialogue between the activity inside the glass structures and the activity on the High Line. (more…)

New historic district in Chelsea consists of twelve rowhouses and includes Underground Railroad stop. Landmarks voted to designate as the Lamartine Place Historic District twelve rowhouses located at 333 through 359 West 29th Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues, Manhattan. William Torrey and Cyrus Mason built the three-and-a-half story Greek Revival rowhouses between 1846 and 1847 on what was then known as Lamartine Place.

James S. Gibbons and his wife, Abigail Hopper Gibbons, a renowned abolitionist, purchased the building at 337 West 29th Street in 1851. A short time later the Gibbons family also purchased the house next door at 339 West 29th Street. Family friend Joseph Hodges Choate cited 339 as being a stop on the Underground Railroad, noting that he dined with the Gibbons and a fugitive slave at the residence in 1855. Several homes on Lamartine Place were damaged during the Draft Riots of 1863, including 339 and a rowhouse at 335 owned by the New York Tribune editor Samuel Sinclair. (more…)