Public School No. 8 (Grammar School No. 8)

29 King Street | also 27 King Street | Hudson Square | built 1886

Open on the map5 entries

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

  1. 1887

    August

    Grammar School No. 8 opens on King Street, replacing an older school on Grand Street

    David I. Stagg, the city's Superintendent of School Buildings, designed the Queen Anne school, which replaced a row of Federal houses on King Street. Work began in 1886 and finished in August 1887 at a cost of $250,000. The building could seat 1,200 boys and took over from Public School No. 8, which the Board of Education had taken over in 1853 and which long stood on Grand Street.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  2. 1895

    Newspapers describe a mixed student body and crowded, unsanitary conditions at Grammar School No. 8

    In 1895 the Tribune noted that American, Italian, Irish, German and Polish-Jewish boys were roughly evenly divided at the school, and Principal Elias Whitehead said a considerable share of the boys on his Monday honor roll were Italian. The Times complained of old privies crowded against neighboring tenements, the Tribune of a flathouse blocking light from the lower floors, and a Health Department inspector counted over 1,200 children in attendance.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  3. 1958

    May

    The building becomes the Livingston School, the city's only public school for delinquent girls

    Led by Principal Dr. Esther Rothman, the Livingston School for Girls was a "600" school for girls that regular public schools could not manage, and its twelve teachers earned $600 a year more than their colleagues. Girls who made the weekly honor roll for punctuality and good behavior received a corsage, donated by a local florist.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  4. 1966

    Principal Esther Rothman writes in support of landmarking the Charlton-King-Vandam district

    When the Landmarks Preservation Commission weighed the Charlton-King-Vandam Historic District in 1966, its designation report quoted a letter from Dr. Esther P. Rothman, principal of the "600" school on King Street. She said the historic streets gave girls from the city's hardest neighborhoods a feeling of history and beauty. The district was designated on August 16, 1966.

    Source: media.villagepreservation.org

  5. 1981

    The former school is converted into 39 apartments

    In 1981 the old school building was turned into 39 luxury apartments, with the Queen Anne facade restored. The former classrooms became condominiums, and the AIA Guide to New York City called the exterior a "lively Queen Anne."

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

Further reading

Nearby

All 79 buildings with stories in Hudson Square