Public School 111 Adolph S. Ochs (New York City, New York)

USA / New Jersey / West New York / New York City, New York / West 53rd Street, 440

4-story mid-century Modern school completed in 1959. Designed by Michael Radoslovich, the school is named for Adolph Simon Ochs, who was an American newspaper publisher and former owner of The New York Times and The Chattanooga Times. The west end of the building has only one story, rising up to 4 floors to the east.

On 53rd Street, the 1-story section is clad in beige brick, with no openings at the west end. The east part has four bays of large 3-over-3 windows above the brick, the top half of each of which pivots to open upward. The windows are framed in blue metal, with yellow metal panels between and above each bay. The 4-story section extends out further north toward the sidewalk, with the main entrance in the west-facing wall where the 1-story section connects. The entrance has four blue metal doors, above which the west-facing facade is clad in blue tiles and divided into 14 bays by projecting beige brick piers. At each floor, each bay has 3-over-2 windows in blue metal frames, except for the end bays, which have high bands of four windows. The west elevation of the 1-story section is also clad in beige brick. At the north end it has three bays of large square openings with 3-over-2 windows in blue metal framing, above basement triple-windows. The next bay is slightly smaller, and the following bay is much narrower, with only 1-over 2 panes; both of these are above small basement windows. Near the center is an entrance with metal double-doors and a metal canopy, above which is a horizontal window. The next two bays are mirror images of the two to the north of the entrance, with a further five bays of the smaller 3-over-2 openings extending to the south.

The north facade of the 4-story section is beige brick, with no openings; instead it has a regular pattern of 5x6 grids of small, dark-brown painted squares arranged into five bays across the upper three floors. There is also a small 1-story extension at the east end, with a single blue metal service door. The east-facing facade matches the west elevation of the 4-story section.

The south facade of the 1-story section on 52nd Street is clad in brick at the west end, where there is a blue metal service door, and a blue metal fence around the ramp that zig-zags up to the door. The rest of this facade on the 1-story section has a wide band of windows (three panes high by 15 panes wide) with yellow metal panels above and below. The blue fencing continues to where the 4-story section begins. The south facade of the 4-story section is the same as on the north, except for the ground floor, where the east three bays continue the grid pattern of painted squares, and the west two bays have a wide opening of 5-over-2 windows in blue framing.

To the west of the building is a 1-acre playground that replaced an asphalt lot in 2015. The playground includes a turf field, running track, basketball courts, outdoor ping pong tables, play equipment and safety mats, forest walk, outdoor classroom, rain garden, green roof gazebo, drinking fountain, benches, and chess and checker tables.

schools.nyc.gov/SchoolPortals/02/M111/default.htm
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   40°45'56"N   73°59'22"W
This article was last modified 4 years ago