Wednesday, May 30, 2012

From the NYC Municipal Archives: Fire Ravaged P.S. 10

Brooklyn's Public School 10 as photographed from the corner of 7th Avenue and 17th Street.  This dates from 3 years after the fire which occurred on January 3rd, 1927.  link
Caption reads,  "From  S.E.  Cor  Room  8 -1st Floor- WHERE FIRE STARTED"  link
ROOM 24 SECOND FLOOR    link
ROOM 42 THIRD FLOOR   link
ATTIC NORTH WING   link
ROOF WITH TEMPORARY COVERING   link




Our P.S. 10 Phoenix
These photos were discovered while browsing through the astonishing NYC Municipal Archives online photography galleries.  The ones above documenting the fire damage are all dated March 18th, 1927,   and are  reproduced from the original 8x10 acetate negatives.  Links to the Archives are provided. 
I had no luck in finding any coverage of this story in the New York Times nor the Brooklyn Eagle despite what looks to be a major fire that climbed all the way through to the roof.  People familiar with today's P.S. 10 will notice the extensive renovations that have occurred over the years.  I don't think much if any original wood work survives. There are built-in closets left for the kids coats in some rooms but most everything looks to have been lost in the name of fire-proofing.  The tin ceilings are gone as well as those gigantic sliding glass paned doors that must have separated the classrooms. 

Anyone know of any nonagenarians in Windsor Terrace who witnessed the fire?

I swear I was only trying to look up an old property tax photo...
This being primarily a South Slope architecturally focused micro-blog, I will tell you right now that we will not be providing any links to the Archives' 299 "Homicide" photos. Especially the ones of the bloated sea captain and the disemboweled body of a schoolboy.  However, to give you an idea of the  spectrum of NYC life captured for eternity in the archives here is a link to a young fireman with dalmatians and one to an image of conjoined infant boys