El Barrio's Artspace PS109

215 East 99th Street | also 213 East 99th Street | East Harlem | built 1901

Open on the map5 entries

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

1. 1899

   C.B.J. Snyder's Public School 109 opens for more than 2,000 pupils

   Public School 109 was built in 1899 to designs by Charles B. J. Snyder, the city's Superintendent of School Buildings, in a Collegiate Gothic style with Beaux-Arts planning. It was built to hold more than 2,000 students. The Landmarks Preservation Commission designated it an individual landmark in 2018.

   Source: nyc.gov

2. 1933

   The Aviation Annex of Haaren High School moves into the building

   By 1933 the school building housed 1,400 students of the Aviation Annex of Manhattan's Haaren High School, training them in aeronautics-related trades during the Depression. The arrangement reflected the era's push for vocational training tied to the growing aviation industry. The Board of Education moved the following year to convert the building into a boys' high school to ease overcrowding elsewhere in the city.

   Source: Wikipedia

3. 1996

   The city evacuates the school after construction shakes the building

   In 1996 the Board of Education abruptly evacuated P.S. 109 after construction of a neighboring playground caused the aging building to shake constantly, raising safety concerns. A proposed four-million-dollar renovation was abandoned and the school sat vacant for years. In 1999, preservationists intervened to stop workers from stripping the building's ornamentation during an attempted demolition.

   Source: Wikipedia

4. 2012

   Nonprofit developer Artspace buys the derelict school for one dollar

   Nonprofit developer Artspace bought the derelict, landmark-eligible school building for a nominal one dollar in 2012, planning to convert it into subsidized live-work apartments for artists. When leasing opened in 2014, roughly 53,000 households applied for the building's 90 affordable units. The $52 million conversion, completed in 2015, preserved architect C. B. J. Snyder's Collegiate Gothic exterior.

   Source: Wikipedia

5. 2015

   The abandoned school reopens as 89 affordable homes for artists

   After serving as a school until 1996, the building sat empty until the nonprofit Artspace turned it into El Barrio's Artspace PS109, which opened in 2015 with 89 affordable live and work apartments for artists and their families and 10,000 square feet for arts groups. About 53,000 people applied to live there.

   Source: 6sqft

Further reading

• P.S. 109Wikipedia

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All 38 buildings with stories in East Harlem