Village Community School (former Primary School No. 7)
272 West 10th Street | also 278 West 10th Street, 272REAR West 10th Street | West Village | built 1920
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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.
- 1820
A one-room wooden schoolhouse of the 1820s begins the school use on this lot
A 1911 New York Times article, cited by the Landmarks Preservation Commission, said a school had stood on this site without a break since a one-room wooden schoolhouse of the 1820s. The Public School Society owned part of the lot from 1837 to 1853, when it passed to the City of New York. This was an earlier building on the site, and every later school here continued that use.
- 1886
David I. Stagg's red-and-tan brick school opens as Primary School No. 7
The Board of Education replaced an older Primary School No. 7 with a new five-story building designed by David I. Stagg, its Superintendent of School Buildings from 1872 to 1886. Built in 1885-86 by contractor Patrick J. Walsh, it is neo-Grec in style, with red and tan brick, stone trim and a terra-cotta cornice. The city renumbered it Public School 107 in 1897, and Gene Tunney, later heavyweight champion, was among its pupils.
- 1891
Over 500 excursionists wait an hour at the wharf for a steamer the principal never booked
Pupils of Public School No. 7 and another school had bought $1 tickets for an end-of-term trip up the Hudson to West Point aboard the new steamer General Slocum. More than 500 people gathered at Jewell's Wharf, some with their mothers, and found no boat. After an hour Principal Wright arrived and admitted he had been unable to charter the Slocum or any other vessel for the day. The New York Times reported it the next morning.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1911
A fire in Room 207 interrupts the Christmas party and 708 children file out calmly
During the school's Christmas party, ten-year-old Willie McClellan quietly told his teacher a fire was burning in Room 207 on the third floor. The principal announced a dismissal drill, and the children protested that they wanted Santa Claus. The Evening World counted 708 pupils, including 65 in a special class for disabled children, who left through smoky halls without panic. Firefighters put the blaze out soon afterward.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1931
The closed school is auctioned, passes to the railroad and reopens as St. Veronica's
The Board of Education closed Public School 107 in June 1930, and it sold at auction for $145,860 in January 1931. The New York Central Railroad acquired it and swapped it to St. Veronica's Church for the parish school at 626 Washington Street, a property the railroad needed for its elevated freight line. The parish dedicated the building as its own parochial school in May 1932, and it served that purpose until June 1963.
- 1970
The Village Community School takes over the empty building
The former school sat vacant for seven years until it was purchased in June 1970 and converted into the home of the Village Community School, a private elementary school started by Sheila Sadler. The school still occupies the building.
Further reading
- Public School No. 7 - 272 West 10th Street Daytonian in Manhattan
Nearby
- 661 Washington Street1 entry
- St. Veronica's Church149 Christopher Street | 8 entries
- 692 Greenwich Street2 entries
- 659 Washington Street1 entry
- 690 Greenwich Street3 entries
- St. Veronica's Rectory657 Washington Street | 2 entries