Boerum Hill Public School Building Could Become Landmark

"The Landmarks Preservation Commission voted to calendar the Public School 15 Annex at a meeting in early December. The three-story Romanesque Revival-style building for Public School 15 Annex in Boerum Hill looks likely to become the borough's newest individual landmark following a unanimous vote by the Landmarks Preservation Commission. The group voted on December 2 to calendar the James Naughton-designed circa 1889 building, once called one of the handsomest schools in the city according to an LPC researcher, for a public hearing on landmark status."

"In recent years, the building at 362 Schermerhorn Street has housed the Khalil Gibran International Academy, the city's first public school to have an Arabic and English dual language program. The building once contained one of the city's largest continuation schools, where it educated more than 7,000 young women a year in vocational and home economic skills. LPC researcher Sarah Eccles said the building represented "a unique blend of styles, not atypical in a late 1880s building." When it was built in 1889, "it was described as quote, one of the handsomest schools in the city," she added."

"The three-story red brick structure on the corner of Schermerhorn and 3rd Avenue has an ornate facade and Queen Anne details. Some of its notable features are decorative brownstone brick corbelling, ironwork, and an original iron dormer that includes a pediment and finials, Eccles said. It represents a distinctive design by Naughton, a prolific late 19th century superintendent of public school buildings in Brooklyn, she continued. Naughton constructed over 100 schools, of which Bushwick's Public School 116, Ocean Hill's Public School 73, and Boys High School on Marcy Avenue in Bed Stuy are already designated as landmarks."

The Landmarks Preservation Commission voted on December 2 to calendar the Public School 15 Annex for a public hearing on landmark designation. The three-story Romanesque Revival building at 362 Schermerhorn Street in Boerum Hill was designed circa 1889 by James Naughton and was once described as one of the handsomest schools in the city. The red brick structure features an ornate facade with Queen Anne details, decorative brownstone corbelling, ironwork, and an original iron dormer with pediment and finials. The building housed the Khalil Gibran International Academy, the city's first Arabic-English dual-language public school, and previously operated a large continuation school educating thousands of young women.

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