QUITE a few years have passed since I strode Van Duzer Street and St. Paul’s Avenue in Stapleton. Of late I have been revisiting locales where I have not been lately, and I did just that amid a heatwave in July 2024. I am a fan of clock towers, and the old PS 15 at St. Paul’s Avenue and Grant Street fills the requirement nicely. The building is still run by NYC Department of Education as an office of maintenance and operations. Originally called the Middletown Twp. District School #1, it was completed in 1897 by architect and Staten Island resident Edward (né Ebenezer) Alfred Sargent (1842-1914), who designed many of the eclectic homes found along St. Mark’s Place in St. George. Sargent was also a noted painter. (Tragically a Sargent masterpiece in Westerleigh was demolished in 2008).
I last walked here in 2009, though I brought a tour through in 2014. At that time, PS 15 was much more visible, but quite a bit of vegetation has popped up to hide things somewhat, so forgive the partiality of the image.
From the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission report:
Faced in rough-textured burnt red brick with terra-cotta and stone bandcourses and trim, Public School 15 is distinguished by an intricate surround of brick and terra cotta at the main entrance facing St. Paul’s Avenue, chamfered pavilions on the front and sides, and Queen Anne style windows. Public School 15 was built with a prominent clock tower placed on the Grant Street side of the building. In 1916 it was named the Daniel D. Tompkins School, after the community’s founder and most prominent resident. The building is currently the Staten Island Area Office, Office of Building Services, Division of School Facilities, New York City Board of Education. It remains one of Staten Island’s most distinctive late-nineteenth-century public structures.
Currently, the building serves as P.S. 65, The Academy of Innovative Learning.
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9/9/24
6 comments
While the Department of Education assigns schools numbers, they are also assigned with a letter, which designates the Borough in which the school is located. For example, PS79Q is located in Queens, as “Q” would be the first letter in both the name of that Borough and of that County. PS55R is in Staten Island, using the “R” from Richmond County, not using an “S” for the Borough of Staten Island. You will find PS235K in Brooklyn. Well, the “K” is for Kings County instead of using “B” for Brooklyn. In Manhattan you can find PS158M. The “M” is for the Borough of Manhattan, instead of using “N” for New York County. And then, we have the Bronx, where you can find PS128X. The “X” is the first letter of neither Bronx County or of Bronx Borough, but the last letter of each. Simple, right? These are the folks who are entrusted to teach our children logic.
The numbering system has its own logic, which is, that every borough/county shall have its unique suffix that cannot in any way be confused with any other. You have a point as far as that Manhattan is “M” and not “N” if we’re otherwise going by county. Similarly, Bronx as “X” and not “B” seems to derive from “LNTC” (leave nothing to chance), i.e., that “B” could be mistaken for “Brooklyn.” But once you are made aware of the suffix format, it will stick with you.
I doubt that clock still works.Aside from the Con Ed or Paramont buildings,
I wonder how many clock towers still work in NY..
At least New Utrecht High School is still “New Utrecht” and not given some pretentious name like “The Academy of Artificial Intelligence”, or “The Academy for Excellence in Leadership”!
After reading your post I looked at the picture again and sure enough, the 2 sides showing are displaying different times.
Prominent buildings in the 1800ss have clock towers because there were no wrist watches and pocket watches were costly for the general public. My Dad, a Greenwich village kid, had to watch the Jefferson Market clock to be home in time for evening meal. My Grandfather worked a second job in the evening and he wanted the family together.