De La Salle Academy

USA / New Jersey / West New York / West 43rd Street, 332

6-story Romanesque-revival school building completed in 1887 as the Holy Cross School. Designed by Lawrence J. O'Connor for the Holy Cross Church on the other side of the block, it is clad in red brick and terra-cotta. There are two separate, recessed, round-arch entrances in slightly-projecting bays, the west one originally for girls and the east one for boys, reflected by the carved stone panels that still top each arch, above a row of four small windows. Both entrances are reached by a set of steps. In between the entrances the 1st & 2nd floors have four bays of single-windows, with rough-faced brownstone sill courses and lintel courses topped by dentiled string courses. The upper string course is topped by a cornice matching those atop the arches, with carved terra-cotta patterns and triple rows of dentils. The end bays have two narrow windows on the ground floor, and two slightly-larger single-windows on the 2nd floor, with continuations of all rough-faced band courses and cornice.

The upper floors have six round-arched windows in the projecting center of the 3rd-5th floors, topped by curved terra-cotta lintels. The end bays at the 3rd floor have a double tier of small paired windows recessed between the narrow framing piers, and circular windows at the 4th floor, with rounded lintels on top. The 5th floor's end bays have high-set rows of four narrow round-arched windows with brick voussoirs and carved terra-cotta faces at the tops of the pillars from which each arch springs. The 5th floor is capped by a terra-cotta band course with carved patterns and dentils along the top.

The center section of the top floor has six single-windows flanked by a pair of narrower windows on each side. A corbel course and terra-cotta cornice runs just below the roof parapet. The end bays have sloping mansard roofs topped by cornices.

Holy Cross has been educating students for over 130 years. In 2011, the school merged with Sacred Heart of Jesus School, on West 52nd Street, each of which had about 200 students in kindergarten through eighth grade. The new combined school now uses the Sacred Heart of Jesus building, which has the larger capacity. This building was then occupied by the De La Salle Academy, a private, non-sectarian school for grades six through eight. The academy, originally located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, was founded in 1984 .
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Coordinates:   40°45'30"N   73°59'27"W
This article was last modified 5 years ago