259 21st Street, KL, PS

Brooklyn, one building at a time.

Name: Originally St. John the Evangelist School, now St. John’s Condominium
Address: 259 21st Street
Cross Streets: 5th and 6th avenues
Neighborhood: Greenwood Heights
Year Built: 1904-1905
Architectural Style:
Architect: T.H. Poole Company, renovation into condos – Van J. Brody
Other Buildings by Architect: St. Joseph’s Orphanage, Flushing
Landmarked: No

The story: The parish of St. John the Evangelist was established in Greenwood Heights in 1849. They were established for the growing Irish Catholic population in this neighborhood, which at this time was made up of small working class wood-framed homes. The first church was also a wood framed structure, built in 1850, on 21st Street, between 5th and 6th Avenues. By 1888, the wood framed church was still there, and the church also had two schools attached to it, both masonry buildings. One was the St. John’s School next door, the other behind it on 22nd Street, run by the Sisters of St. Joseph’s, with a convent next door. That was probably the girl’s school, and St. John’s was for boys.

In 1904, the small schools were grossly inadequate for the student population. The church was also way too small, and the wood framed structure was getting run down beyond repair. A new school and church were planned for the parish. The school came first. It broke ground in 1904, and was finished a year later. The architects were the T. H. Poole Company, which had offices in Midtown, Manhattan. They did not leave a large track record, but from what I could find, they worked with the Catholic Church a lot, especially with the Sisters of St. Joseph, for whom they also designed an orphanage in Flushing in 1915.

The new school, which cost $160,000, had all of the modern conveniences. It was four stories tall, and made of Harvard brick, with black headers and terra cotta trim. It originally had two inclement weather playgrounds in the basement; one for the boys, one for the girls. There was also a roof playground that extended across the entire surface of the roof. Inside, there were two manual training facilities, (i.e. shop and home economics.) making it quite modern by the educational standards of the day.

There were classrooms, offices, teacher’s rooms, bathrooms and a large auditorium. The auditorium was used as the church when the old wooden church was torn down in the 1920s for a new church. Funds had been raised for about ten years. The new church, which is in an interesting Gothic version of Art Deco, was dedicated in 1928. I’ll have to do a separate BOTD on that one; it’s a great building.

St. John’s kept the sexes separated. They even had separate sets of teachers and staff when the school was built. The boys were under the tutelage of the Franciscan Brothers. The girls were taught by the Sisters of St. Joseph’s. The school enjoyed an excellent reputation in preparing the boys, at least, for business high schools. The girls were also candidates for the city’s best high schools.

However, by 1989, Catholic School attendance was dropping, as was participation in the parish. The dioceses closed St. John’s School that year, and in 2011, merged St. John’s with St. Rocco’s parish, which is a few blocks away at 27th and 5th. The combined parish meets across the street from this building, at St. John’s church. The diocese sold the building and it was renovated into a mixed use commercial and residential condo building, with garage space. The architect on the reno was Van J. Brody. There are 28 residential units and 14 commercial tenants in the building. It’s a very fine looking building, and makes a beautiful apartment building.

(Photo: Kate Leonova for PropertyShark)

GMAP

1888 map. New York Public Library. The school was built across the street from the church.
1888 map. New York Public Library. The school was built across the street from the church
Photo; Google Maps
Photo: Google Maps
Photo; Google Maps
Photo: Google Maps

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