P.S. 41 (Greenwich Village School)

116 West 11th Street | also 106 West 11th Street | West Village | built 1955

Open on the map10 entries

The lot about 1940
About 1940. Via 1940s.nyc
The lot about 1985
About 1985. Via 80s.nyc

The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.

Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.

  1. 1851

    A false cry of fire at an earlier school here sends children tumbling down the stairs

    Ward School No. 26 stood on the ground now used as P.S. 41's playground. In 1851 a false shout of "fire" sent young children rushing into the corridors and down the stairs, where those behind pressed them against doors that opened inward. The stair rails gave way, and forty-five children were reportedly killed and sixty hurt. The disaster led to an 1852 law requiring public-building doors to open outward.

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  2. 1855

    Rhinelander Gardens, a row of eight porch-fronted houses, rises on a former florist's garden

    An earlier building on the site was Rhinelander Gardens, eight three-story houses set back from West 11th Street and tied together by long cast-iron porches. They were built on Rhinelander family land some time after 1854, where a florist's garden with greenhouses had been, and the plan is attributed to the architect James Renwick Jr. A narrow alley called Garden Row ran in at the east end past five small houses.

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  3. 1867

    Grammar School No. 41 opens as a girls' school at Greenwich Avenue and Charles Street

    An earlier P.S. 41 stood on this site, near what is now the schoolyard entrance on Greenwich Avenue at Charles Street, and at the start it admitted only girls. The New York Times praised it as a model of comfort and neatness, among the best school buildings in the city. The Board of Education's 1867 annual report said it had been built with great care.

    Source: Wikipedia

  4. 1867

    Grammar School No. 41 opens as a girls' school and is hailed as one of the city's finest

    An earlier P.S. 41 building opened in 1867 near what is now the school's yard entrance on Greenwich Avenue. It was then a school for girls only. The New York Times called it a model of comfort and neatness, and the Board of Education's annual report praised it as one of the most elegant and substantial schoolhouses yet built. The school later gained a name for sending many graduates on to teacher training.

    Source: Wikipedia

  5. 1955

    The city razes Rhinelander Gardens and builds a glass curtain-wall school

    The city tore down Rhinelander Gardens in 1955 to put up the Greenwich Village School, designed by Michael L. Radoslovich. It is a four-story building whose street front is a glass curtain wall, with terra cotta over a brick first floor on its western part and a zig-zag line along the sidewalk. The Landmarks Preservation Commission's 1969 Greenwich Village report describes it as contemporary in design.

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  6. 1957

    A new P.S. 41 opens in 1957 after the 1867 school is torn down and rebuilt in 18 months

    The school's original 1867 building stood where the current playground is. According to Laurie Fried, a parent researching a history of the school, it was demolished and a new building went up in only eighteen months, opening in 1957.

    Source: amny.com

  7. 1968

    Parents break into P.S. 41 to hold classes during the teachers' strikes

    During the school strikes of 1968 and 1969, which followed the dismissal of white teachers from a mostly Black school in Brooklyn, parents at P.S. 41 broke into the building to hold classes after the strikes shut the doors. Some of the school's more radical parents defected to P.S. 3, wanting a more active say in their school. Former PTA president Jo LoCicero recalls the strikes as a grim but defining moment for the school.

    Source: amny.com

  8. 2001

    September

    P.S. 41 takes in 600 students evacuated from P.S. 234 after September 11

    After the attacks on the World Trade Center, P.S. 234 in Tribeca was evacuated, and P.S. 41 took in its roughly 600 students. The influx doubled the number of children in the Greenwich Village building for months.

    Source: amny.com

  9. 2012

    P.S. 41 opens a green roof, the first at any city public school

    In 2012 P.S. 41 became the first New York City public school to open a green roof, which it uses to teach students about the environment. The school serves children from 3-K through fifth grade in its zoned Greenwich Village area. It was later named a National Blue Ribbon School, in 2021.

    “In 2012 the school opened the first green roof on a New York City public school, using it for environmental education.”

    Source: Wikipedia

  10. 2021

    P.S. 41 is named a National Blue Ribbon School

    P.S. 41 earned a National Blue Ribbon School designation in 2021. It serves grades 3-K through 5 from its zoned area. Its alumni include actors Robert De Niro and Scarlett Johansson, Adam Horovitz of the Beastie Boys, and the critic Michael Kimmelman.

    Source: Wikipedia

Further reading

Nearby

All 1,156 buildings with stories in West Village