Public School 31 Artifacts

Public School 31 Artifacts. . , The architectural artifacts on display inside Hostos Community College were salvaged from Public School 31, which stood on this site from 1899 until 2015. Seen in the photo above, P.S. 31 was constructed as the population of Mott Haven and the Bronx was beginning to undergo explosive growth spurred by immigration to the U.S. and facilitated by the expansion of the New York City transit system. The school was designed in the Collegiate Gothic style by C.B.J. Snyder. As New York City's Superintendent of School Buildings from 1891 to 1923, Snyder was the chief architect responsible for the design of over 400 schools in the five boroughs. Using innovative floor plans and modern construction techniques that maximized light and air Snyder revolutionized school design and construction at the turn of the 20th Century. The limestone and terra-cotta decoration display here was used to embellish and enliven the design of the school and to impart a sense of grandeur to this civic architecture. The decorative features include whimsical faces, animal heads and statues that adorned various levels of the school's facade and cause the building to be known as the 'Castle on the Concourse'. P.S. 31 was designated a New York City Landmark in 1986 and ceased operation as a school in 1997.,

Artifact Key. ① Carved limestone plaque located above the main entrance to P.S. 31. The plaque features a richly-carved foliate arabesque border surrounding the name of the school carved in a Gothic lettering., ② - ⑩ A series of grotesques (carved faces and animal heads) that decorated the continuous sill course that ran below the fourth-floor windows., ⑪ Sculpted lion statue, one of two sculpted figures that flanked the second-story windows above the main entrance., ⑫ Face of a scholar, modeled after William Shakespeare, that was part of the spiral label molding surrounding the second-story window above the main entrance to P.S. 31., ⑬ - ⑭ A pair of corbel masks that formed the drip mold of the spiral label moldings surrounding the second-floor windows at the central tower above the main entrance to P.S. 31.