Public School 27 (St. Mary's Park School)
519 St Anns Avenue | Mott Haven | built 1897
Open on the map3 entries
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.
- 1894
The Board of Education votes to buy a St. Ann's Avenue site for a crowded district's new school
Early in 1894 the Board of Education discussed the need for a school near East 147th Street, midway between P.S. 85 and P.S. 90, and by March it resolved to buy a St. Ann's Avenue site running from East 147th to East 148th Street. Condemning and buying the site took the rest of 1894 and most of 1895, and the need for classrooms was so pressing that private homes and stores served as schools while the building went up.
“…the need for classrooms in this area was so great that private homes and stores were used while construction was proceeding.”
- 1897
C.B.J. Snyder's stepped-gabled school opens facing St. Mary's Park
Opened in the fall of 1897 as P.S. 154, or the St. Mary's Park School, it was among the earliest designs of C.B.J. Snyder, superintendent of school buildings from 1891 to 1923. He borrowed from New York's Dutch and Federal past for the stepped gables and the polygonal bell tower, and its small rear wings, forming a C-plan around a play yard, point toward the H-plan of his later schools.
“Public School 27 (originally P.S. 154, also called the St. Mary's Park School) ... The school did not open until the fall of 1897…”
- 1995
Public School 27 becomes a city landmark after its principal speaks in support
At a Landmarks Preservation Commission hearing on June 2, 1992, seven speakers, among them the school's principal, backed designation and no one opposed it. The commission designated Public School 27 at 519 St. Ann's Avenue on September 19, 1995, citing it as an example of the schools the city built in the 1890s for waves of new students brought by immigration and mandatory education laws.
“There were seven speakers in favor of this designation, including the school principal. No one spoke in opposition to designation.”
Nearby
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- C. Rieger's Sons Factory452 East 148th Street | 2 entries
- 441 East 148th Street3 entries
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- Church of St. Pius V416 East 145th Street | 3 entries
- Haffen Building2804 3rd Avenue | 6 entries