After years of stalemate, what was the last-known segregated schoolhouse in Manhattan for Black students has received landmark status, adding a layer of protection from developers looking to buy and build in the coveted neighborhood of Chelsea.
The Landmarks Preservation Commission voted unanimously Tuesday to designate the three-story building on 17th Street, between Sixth and Seventh Avenues, and recognize its history as a racially segregated school for more than three decades during the 19th century.
“Historic sites like this are crucial reminders of those who came before us, whose courage and ambition helped shape our city and chart the course to becoming the incredible city we are today,” said Mayor Eric Adams in a statement. “We stand on the shoulders of the young men and women that attended this school, and while they may be gone, I am honored to ensure they will never be forgotten.”
The vacant building remains in stable condition but suffers from a leaky roof and shattered double-hung windows, sparking concern that those issues could be used as grounds for the city to sell and developers to tear down the structure for ultra-luxury condos. The median rent for a two-bedroom in Chelsea is $7,965, according to real estate listing company StreetEasy.
Several advocates hope the 25-foot-wide site can be used as a museum or community center focused on Black history in lower Manhattan and a physical record of segregation in local schools.
“There are no definite plans, but there are definite aspirations,” said Eric K. Washington, who first requested that the Landmarks Preservation Commission evaluate the site in 2018. “My feeling — and this is shared by a lot of other people — is it should be a cultural institution that has an educational component, so it would echo its original use.”
Close to two dozen neighbors, officials, historians, architects and advocates urged the city to act quickly to protect the structure at a public hearing last month. Landmarks researcher Marianne Hurley said the commission received a petition with close to 3,000 signatures in support, and no letters opposing the designation.
Local Councilman Erik Bottcher (D-Manhattan) helped push for $6 million in city funding to repair the building. The structure under city ownership was last used by the Department of Sanitation, whose commissioner, Jessica Tisch, is working with the landmarks panel on the project.
“You walk by it a thousand times and never look twice, and now it’s kind of like a hidden story,” said Commissioner Michael Goldblum, founder of an architectural and design firm.
“We’re illuminating a little corner of the city and connecting it through a network to its history, to its people — and giving even this modest, never-notice-it building the importance and richness and depth that it deserves.”
The schoolhouse was built around 1849 and used exclusively by Black students from 1860 to 1894 — almost a decade after city schools were formally ordered to integrate. During that period, white rioters targeted the school and other Black institutions during the days-long New York City Draft Riots of 1863, killing hundreds of people over federally mandated military duty during the Civil War.