Boys High School (Brooklyn)

Boys High School is a historic and architecturally notable public school building in the Bedford–Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, United States. It is regarded as "one of Brooklyn's finest buildings".[2]

Boys High School
South face
Location832 Marcy Ave, New York
Coordinates40°41′4″N 73°56′54″W
Area1.9 acres (7,700 m2)
Built1891
ArchitectJames W. Naughton, C.B.J Snyder
Architectural styleRomanesque, Rundbogenstil
NRHP reference No.82003361[1]
Significant dates
Added to NRHPFebruary 25, 1982
Designated NYCLSeptember 23, 1975

Architecture

The Romanesque Revival building is richly decorated in terracotta somewhat in the style of Louis Sullivan.[3] The building is admired for its round corner tower, dormers, and soaring campanile.[4]

The building was erected in 1891 on the west side of Marcy Avenue between Putnam Avenue and Madison Street. It was designed by James W. Naughton, Superintendent of Buildings for the Board of Education of the City of Brooklyn.[5] The building is regarded as Naughton's "finest work."[6]

When Boys High was landmarked by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1975, the commission called it "one of the finest Romanesque Revival style buildings in the city".[7] It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on February 25, 1982.

The building was the exterior filming location for the Knickerbocker Hospital in the television show The Knick.[8]

School

In 1975, the same year the building was landmarked, Boys High merged with Girls' High School to become Boys and Girls High School.[7] Boys and Girls High School immediately moved to a new building at Fulton Street and Utica Avenue.[7]

The school was a college preparatory program with high academic standards. Congressman Emanuel Celler described Boys High in his autobiography, "I went to Boys' High School — naturally. I say "naturally" because Boys' High School then, as now, was the high school of scholarships. Boys of Brooklyn today will tell you, "It's a hard school." It was highly competitive..."[9]

Another Boys High graduate remembered that "I went to Boys High School in Brooklyn, a great school. It was out of the classic tradition. I guess eighty percent of the student body had to take Latin — we didn't have to; we elected Latin, because we felt it was expected of us."[10]

Notable alumni
Isaac Asimov

Distinguished faculty
  • Mickey Fisher (1935-1962), Basketball coach making the Final Four every year from 1956 to 1962, coach of the Israeli Olympic basketball team, Rome 1960.[15]
  • Dr. James Sullivan (1873-1931), Principal (1907-1916), later Directory of the YMCA for the American Expeditionary Forces, New York State Historian and Director of Archives and History.[16]

See also

References
  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
  2. Robbins, Michael W.; Palitz, Wendy (2001). Brooklyn: a State of Mind. Workman Publishing. p. 228. ISBN 978-0761116356.
  3. "New York Architecture Images - Brooklyn Bedford-Stuyvesant: Boys' High School". New York Architecture.
  4. "Boys' High School". The New York City Chapter of the American Guild of Organists. Archived from the original on November 28, 2010.
  5. An architectural guidebook to Brooklyn, Francis Morrone, Photographs by James Iska, Gibbs Smith, 2001, p. 37.
  6. "Walkabout with Montrose: Master of Schools, JW Naughton," Archived September 11, 2009, at the Wayback Machine September 8, 2009, Brownstoner.
  7. Fried, Joseph P. (October 5, 1975). "Boys High School And Historic Dock Made Landmarks; Boys High And a Dock Are Cited". New York Times.
  8. https://untappedcities.com/2014/10/15/nyc-film-locations-for-steven-soderberghs-the-knick/
  9. Celler, Emanuel (1953). You Never Leave Brooklyn: the Autobiography of Emanuel Celler. The John Day Company. p. 31.
  10. Simons, Howard (1990). Jewish Times: Voices of the American Jewish Experience. Anchor Books. p. 262. ISBN 978-0385266970.
  11. "Lee Farr obituary". Los Angeles Times. March 27, 2017. Retrieved April 16, 2017.
  12. Ausmus, Harry J. (1987). Will Herberg: From Right to Right. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press. p. 2. ISBN 0-8078-1724-4.
  14. Kamil, Seth; Wakin, Eric (2005). The Big Onion Guide to Brooklyn. New York University Press. p. 64. ISBN 978-0814747858.
  15. http://wilburcoach0.tripod.com/tmboysgirls.html
  16. https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1931/10/09/96921349.pdf
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