Trinity School - Lower School

 school, English Gothic (architecture)

4-story English Collegiate Gothic-style school completed in 1894. Designed by Charles C. Haight, this was the first Trinity School building on this site. The school was originally founded downtown in 1709 by Trinity Parish, and gradually moved northward from its original home near Trinity Church to its present home on the Upper West Side. The facade is clad in brownstone.

The front facade is divided into five vertical bays, with end bays projecting out from the main wall to form a small courtyard into which the central entry bay slightly projects. The main feature of the front elevation is the triumphal arch entrance which is centered within the facade and consists of pairs of engaged, fluted columns flanking a deeply recessed round-arched opening. The entry is detailed with floral relief and the words "TRINITY SCHOOL" are carved within the architrave. Within the arch are four black wooden doors with glass panes, below a grand fanlight.

Another round-arched entrance (which originally led to the headmaster's quarters) is located at the western bay of this elevation and is elaborated with a deep archivolt, carved spandrels, detailed moldings, and floral relief within the frame of a projecting cornice. It has black wooden double-doors, with stained-glass quarter-circle arched tops. Three steep triangular gables corresponding to the end and central bays, alternated with two pairs of gabled dormers and a brownstone cornice, mark the roof line at the main facade.

Flanking the triumphal arch at the ground level are pairs of large, deeply set, round-arched window openings. Other windows are of consistent design throughout the structure. Windows are typically grouped in sets of two, three, or five within each bay, and are recessed from sharply-cut rectangular openings. A wrought-iron fence fronts the building, which now houses the Lower School, with the other divisions expanded into additional buildings throughout the complex.