Public School 11 (Highbridge School)

1257 Ogden Avenue | also 1301 Ogden Avenue | Highbridge | built 1889

Open on the map5 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. 1889

    George W. Debevoise completes a Romanesque Revival school on Ogden Avenue

    The school was built in 1889 as Public School 91, of brick and Harlem River stone where an 1852 schoolhouse had stood. Its designer, George W. Debevoise, served as the Board of Education's superintendent of school buildings from 1884 to 1891. Its showpiece is a projecting central entrance tower, a form whose earliest known use in a city school was an 1868 grammar school in Chelsea.

    “Built in 1889 of brick and Harlem River stone, on the site of an 1852 school, P.S. 11 was designed by George W. Debevoise…”

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  2. 1891

    July

    The school's architect resigns as a graft inquiry follows his school projects

    George W. Debevoise designed more than twenty schools in the Bronx and Manhattan in seven years, and introduced iron girders, bigger classrooms and better heating and ventilation. He handed in his resignation in July 1891. His successor, C.B.J. Snyder, and the Board of Education's Buildings Committee found many cases of graft and malfeasance in school construction under Debevoise. What he did afterward is unknown.

    “Debevoise left the Board of Education under clouded circumstances... discovered many instances of graft and malfeasance in the construction of schools…”

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  3. 1905

    A three-story wing adds classrooms along Ogden Avenue

    In 1905 the school gained a large addition running along Ogden Avenue. The new wing rose three stories in red brick with stone trim over a base of rough-faced stone. Besides extra classrooms, it brought the building an up-to-date heating system.

    “In 1905, a large wing was added to the school along Ogden Avenue. Three stories high it is of red brick with stone trim…”

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  4. 1937

    A WPA mural of the Bronx's growth goes up over the auditorium stage

    In 1930 a building with a gymnasium and auditorium was added along Merriam Avenue. Seven years later, under the Works Progress Administration's arts program, a mural tracing the development of the Bronx was installed above its stage.

    “Seven years later a mural of the development of the Bronx was added over the stage as part of the W.P.A arts project…”

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  5. 1981

    August 25

    The city designates P.S. 11 a landmark

    The Landmarks Preservation Commission designated Public School 11, known until 1898 as Public School 91, on August 25, 1981. At the July 1980 hearing three witnesses spoke for designation and one against. The commission called it one of the finest examples of Romanesque Revival design in the Bronx.

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

Further reading

Nearby

All 7 buildings with stories in Highbridge