A. Philip Randolph Campus High School (former High School of Music & Art)
443 West 135th Street | also 161 Convent Avenue | Manhattanville | built 1926
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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.
- 1923
The city takes title to an undeveloped West 135th Street site for its teacher-training school
The Board of Education had first secured a Hamilton Place site, but its small, irregular lot and uneven grade raised doubts, and by August 1922 a larger undeveloped parcel was proposed on West 135th Street between Convent Avenue and St. Nicholas Terrace. The school's principal liked its setting beside City College and St. Nicholas Park. The Board of Estimate approved acquiring the land in December 1922, and the city held title by June 1923.
“…title was vested in the city in June 1923…”
- 1924
The cornerstone is laid for William Gompert's Collegiate Gothic training school
The cornerstone of the New York Training School for Teachers was laid on February 4, 1924, though final plans were not adopted until April and the construction contract was awarded in June. William H. Gompert, the Board of Education's architect, designed an L-shaped building in an abstracted Collegiate Gothic style, clad in limestone and buff-to-brown brick with unusual folding-casement steel windows. Its western end held the model school, and a taller southern wing held the training school.
“The cornerstone of the NYTST building was laid on February 4, 1924.”
- 1926
The city opens the New York Training School for Teachers
The Board of Education built the Collegiate Gothic building to designs by staff architect William H. Gompert, laying the cornerstone in February 1924. The New York Training School for Teachers officially opened on April 12, 1926, with its affiliated model school for practice teaching following that September, a decade before the site became the High School of Music & Art.
- 1933
The teacher-training college is abolished and its building splits into a grade school and a high school annex
With thousands of licensed teachers waiting for jobs in the Depression, the Board of Education abolished the city's three teacher-training colleges in February 1933. It assigned the model school portion of this building to Public School 193 and made the training school portion an annex of Wadleigh High School for Girls. P.S. 193 was discontinued in March 1952.
- 1935
Mayor La Guardia's art committee first plans a music school here, then a combined school
In 1935 the Municipal Art Committee of Mayor Fiorello La Guardia weighed new high schools for art and music. Its first recommendation was a music school in the former training school building, plus art schools for girls and for boys inside existing high schools. By the end of the year the plan changed to a single coeducational school in this building, with students chosen for aptitude, test scores and principals' recommendations.
“…by the end of the year plans were made for a combination coeducational facility in the NYTST building…”
- 1936
Mayor La Guardia founds the High School of Music & Art in "the Castle"
Fiorello La Guardia created the High School of Music & Art in 1936 as a public school for gifted young musicians and artists, calling it the most hopeful accomplishment of his administration. It moved into this 1924 Gothic Revival building beside City College, nicknamed the Castle on the Hill, where tower rooms served for choral practice. Alumni included Milton Glaser, Diahann Carroll, Billy Dee Williams and Peter Yarrow.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1940
Future Mad magazine cartoonists Al Jaffee, Will Elder and John Severin graduate from Music & Art
Several future contributors to Mad magazine attended the High School of Music & Art together in the 1930s. Wikipedia's alumni list gives 1940 as the graduation year of Al Jaffee, Will Elder and John Severin, and 1941 for Harvey Kurtzman, who created Mad. Al Feldstein, another future Mad contributor, also attended.
“Future Mad magazine contributors Al Jaffee , Will Elder , Harvey Kurtzman , John Severin , and Al Feldstein all attended Music & Art…”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1957
The Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibits Music & Art students' work for the school's 21st anniversary
In May 1957 the Metropolitan Museum of Art devoted a special exhibition to work by students of the High School of Music and Art, marking 21 years since its founding. By then the school served about 2,000 students. Over the years it drew leading composers, conductors, sculptors and painters to teach and lecture, among them William Schuman, Leopold Stokowski and Stuart Davis.
“In May 1957, the Metropolitan Museum of Art featured the work of HSMA students in a special exhibition…”
- 1984
Music & Art leaves for Lincoln Center and A. Philip Randolph High School moves in
In 1984 Music & Art formally merged with the High School of Performing Arts to form Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School near Lincoln Center, ending nearly five decades on West 135th Street. The Castle became home to A. Philip Randolph Campus High School, and the Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the building in 1997.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1997
The Landmarks Preservation Commission designates the former training school and Music & Art building
The Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the New York Training School for Teachers/New York Model School as a city landmark on June 24, 1997, after a July 1991 hearing at which eight people spoke in favor of it and other items. The report describes the High School of Music and Art as the country's first public high school devoted to those two fields. It lists graduates including Bess Myerson, Diahann Carroll, Billy Dee Williams and Cy Coleman.
“…considered to be the first public high school in the United States specializing in the study of music and art…”
Further reading
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