Professional Children's School (New York City, New York)

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7-story school completed in 1917. It was originally designed as an office building. Professional Children's School is a not-for-profit, college preparatory school enrolling 200 students (mostly working or aspiring child actors or dancers) in grades 6-12. The school was founded in New York City in 1914 to provide an academic education to young people working on the New York stage. The school moved into this building in 1956, across the street from the then-proposed Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.

The ground floor is limestone, with the main entrance near the west end, through the west side of a recessed section. The rear wall of the recessed section has a large 5-over-4 window opening, and the non-recessed end of the facade to the right is enclosed in glass and metal above the stone water table. A stainless-steel canopy covers the entry. At the far west end, the glass-and-metal cladding extends up to the 2nd floor as well, wrapping a short bit around the corner. There are grey metal service doors at the east end of the ground floor.

The upper floors have limestone piers and red-brick spandrels, with limestone sills and wide lintels at the windows. Each of the three main bays has a large window with 5-over-6 horizontal panes. The smaller west end bay is divided into two halves - the east half has similar windows to the main bays, only with 2-over-6 panes, while the west half features an uninterrupted column of shiny glass blocks running from the 3rd-7th floors, also wrapping around a short way on the front of the west facade. At the 7th floor, the main bays are subdivided by thin limestone mullions into four windows of 2-over-4 panes. A red-brick parapet runs across the entire top of the facade. Rising from each end is a tall stone bulkhead, with a metal railing in between. The rooftop gymnasium enclosure is not visible from the street. The west facade is a plain concrete wall except for the short returns at the front edge.

In 2004, PCS undertook a $9-million renovation and expansion which included the addition of the Peter Glenville Theater on the ground floor and a rooftop gymnasium under a white fabric bubble.

www.pcs-nyc.org/