P.S. 34, the Oliver H. Perry School

131 Norman Avenue | also 196 Eckford Street, 157 McGuinness Boulevard | Greenpoint | built 1867

Open on the map4 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. 1867

    Brooklyn builds P.S. 34 on Norman Avenue after Greenpoint outgrows its older school

    Greenpoint grew during the decade from 1855 to 1865, and Public School 22, which the city of Brooklyn had built on the south side of Java Street between Manhattan and Franklin Avenues, no longer offered adequate facilities. In 1867 the city opened a new school on the north side of Norman Avenue, filling the block between Eckford Street and McGuinness Boulevard. It was named for Oliver H. Perry, the hero of the War of 1812's Battle of Lake Erie.

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  2. 1867

    Samuel B. Leonard designs P.S. 34 in the Romanesque Revival style

    Samuel B. Leonard, Superintendent of Buildings for the Board of Education from 1859 to 1879, designed the school in the Early Romanesque Revival, or round-arch, manner with Italianate ornament. He also designed Public School 111, another 1867 school that is now a city landmark and closely resembles this one.

    “…designed, by Samuel B. Leonard in the Early Romanesque Revival or Round Arch style with Italianate ornamental motifs.”

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  3. 1887

    Superintendent James W. Naughton adds front pavilions to P.S. 34

    Around 1887-88 James W. Naughton, who had succeeded Leonard as the Board of Education's Superintendent of Buildings, added the flanking pavilions on the Norman Avenue side. Naughton, born in Ireland in 1840 and brought to Brooklyn as a child, held the post until he died in 1898. An earlier addition, in 1870, had put extensions onto the rear of the building.

    “The flanking pavilions on the front, Norman Avenue, side were added about 1887-88 by James W. Naughton…”

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  4. 1983

    The city designates P.S. 34 a landmark as Brooklyn's oldest functioning primary school

    The Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the school and its tax lot a New York City landmark in 1983. Its findings called P.S. 34 the oldest functioning primary school in Brooklyn and one of the few surviving 19th-century school buildings in the city, still serving its original purpose after 115 years.

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

Nearby

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