Public School 72

History and architecture

Built in 1879-82, Public School 72 was the work of David I. Stagg, whose career in public school architecture spanned more than half a century and who was Superintendent of Public School Buildings for the New York City Board of Education from 1872 to 1886. A rare and almost completely intact example of a late nineteenth-century public school Building in Manhattan, it was designed to meet the needs of a once-densely populated immigrant neighborhood in East Harlem.

The school, which displays the range of sharply articulated detailing and angular ornament characteristic of the neo-Grec style, is an excellent example of that style as it was used in New York public school design during the late 1870s and 1880s. P.S. 72 is one of a few extant school buildings that represent a departure from the design vocabulary of the Italianate style which dominated school design from the late 1840s through the early 1870s. The building continued in use as a public school until 1975, when it was closed by the Board of Education.

The building later housed classrooms for Touro College and offices for the East Harlem Council for Community Improvement. A recent complete renovation and restoration under the direction of the New York City Economic Development Corporation has insured the long term future of this building for community use.