PS 9 Sarah Anderson School (New York City, New York)

 school, 1964_construction, Modern (architecture)

3-story early modern-style school completed in 1964. Designed by the BOE Bureau of Design (led by Arthur G. Paletta, Director of Architecture), it is clad in blue glazed brick with piers of beige brick. The ends are also clad in beige brick, as is the 3-story windowless wall facing Columbus Avenue. The only elements breaking up the expanse of wall are the piers of curved bricks that divide the east facade into 10 bays, and the blue-and-white Board of Educations seals mounted high on the walls at the north and south end bays. A stainless-steel coping runs along the top, and there is a short, raised section above, with another coping, at the middle five bays. A metal fence surrounds the roof area.

The north facade on 84th Street has an entrance at the east end bay with three blue metal doors; it is framed by a rounded, grey granite surround. Above, the 2nd & 3rd floors have a 5x10 grid of open squares to the recessed wall of blue brick and windows behind. To the west of this end bay there are 14 more bays, each with a triple-window on all three floors, with blue metal framing. Those on the ground floor have cage grilles of blue metal mesh. At the 6th bay from the east is another entrance, with blue metal double-doors. The steel coping and roof fence continue along this facade, which is fronted by a black iron fence, with openings at the two entrances. Along the avenue, there are trees and ground cover planted between the fence and the wall.

The south facade on 83rd Street is fronted by an enclosed playground and matches the north facade, except that there is a reddish-orange painted stone water table at the base, and the brick below the ground-floor windows is beige instead of blue, with short basement windows below many of the eastern bays. There are also two secondary entrances with single blue metal doors in the 2nd & 6th bays from the east end bay, both atop a small landing and sideways set of steps.

Public School 9 served students K-5, and offers a Renaissance program and a Gifted program. The school was originally founded in 1826, when the the Public School Society of New York acquired a school operated by the vestry of Saint Michael's Church. On July 19, 1830, the Society completed the construction of a 1-story clapboard school at 466 West End Avenue for 50 students, and expanded to a larger 4-story building at 466 West End Avenue in 1896. The current 3-story PS 9 building on Columbus Avenue was originally named the John Jasper School.