oldjamaica.high

As of the summer of 2014, Queens is in the unusual position of boasting two classic architectural treasures that were once home to the same now-shuttered high school. One, of course, was the classic Jamaica High School, a Georgian Revival masterpiece built in 1927 at Gothic Drive and 168th Street, noted on this recent Brownstoner Queens piece. The other is this forbidding Gothic Revival brick number on Haillside Avenue and 162nd Street.

When Jamaica High School was founded in 1892, students went to class in the now-demolished Jamaica Public High School, 161st Street just off Jamaica Avenue, which was still Fulton Street; 161st was then Herriman Avenue. That venue quickly became too crowded, and a new school in the Gothic Revival style was commissioned with prominent Brooklyn architect William Tubby (whose most prominent buildings still stand in Clinton Hill, including the Pratt University library building) at the helm of the project.

When first completed in 1896 this Jamaica High School was thought to be too large for community needs. It housed all grades from kindergarten through 12th grade but as Queens’ population grew, especially after the Queensboro Bridge link to Manhattan opened in 1909, this school, too, became inadequate.

The school was built in a rather plain esthetic, especially given the Beaux-Arts era that was beginning around this time that employed a great deal of ornamentation. It employs a variety of differently-colored bricks, deep red on lower floors, yellow above, with pink stone for the basement. The three dormer windows are distinctive, with steep “witches’ hat” points.

At length, bursting with over 850 students, the latest Jamaica High was constructed a few blocks to the northeast and opened in 1927. The Hillside Avenue building is now home to the Jamaica Learning Center. Hopefully, both Jamaica Highs old and new will continue to stand for many years.


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