New York Harbor School will occupy former Army barracks. Landmarks voted to approve the Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation’s plan to move New York Harbor School, a Brooklyn-based public high school with a strong maritime focus, into a former military barracks building located in the Governors Island Historic District.

GIPEC is a subsidiary of the Empire State Development Corporation created to develop civic spaces on Governors Island after the federal government handed control of the island over to state and city officials in 2003. Under GIPEC’s plan, the school will have new program space to accommodate its maritime-centric curriculum, which includes courses in marine biology and waterfront development. The school will include an aquarium for fish native to the New York Harbor, as well as Marine Science classrooms where students will raise lobsters, oysters, and tilapia.

Chair Robert B. Tierney called GIPEC’s plan an “incredibly impressive” example of adaptive reuse. Commissioner Margery Perlmutter agreed, stating that she “envied the students.” Landmarks voted unanimously to approve the plan on October 23, 2007.

LPC: Building 550, Governors Island (BR# 08-2568) (Oct. 23, 2007).