P.S. 11 HANDS ON HISTORY: PRESERVING THE PAST IN THE PRESENT
Spring Semester 2018 Report
Taught by Lesley Doyel & Assistant teacher Katherine Fernandez
This was a busy semester for the Hands On History (HOH) Class at P.S. 11. We began the semester by visiting a small, but delectable exhibit called Closet Archaeology: An Accidental Time Capsule that was the result of fourth graders at an East Village Public School, “excavated” under floor boards, in closets, behind baseboards, to find and bring to light objects and artifacts hidden away over the 104 years of the school’s existence.
Closet Archaeology was a perfect way to begin thinking about P.S. 11, which is also very much the way it was when it opened in 1925. We discovered many wonderful aspects of the school’s design, by C.B.J. Snyder, Superintendent of NYC Public School Buildings from 1891 to 1923. We noticed that P.S. 11 has the typical mid-block location, H plan, numerous stairwells and recreation areas, multipurpose spaces, an auditorium and, even a swimming pool. Snyder would only allow the use of fire proof building materials such as brick and terracotta, and a steel structure that also allowed the building to have HUGE windows allowing the maximum amount of light into classrooms.
We also learned about the history and evolution of the Public School system in the US, and about William T. Harris, for whom our school is named. Harris was the United States Commissioner of Education from 1889 to 1906. He revolutionized many aspects of American education by insisting that each school had a library, was co-educational and that education address the “whole child.” Please see HOH student, Lucy Farley’s article about Harris, the cover story in the April P.S. 11 Newsletter.
We also Explored sites outside of the Chelsea neighborhood, including the Ladies Mile Historic District, St. Paul’s Chapel and African Burial Ground in Lower Manhattan, and spent lots time learning about the RMS Titanic, which was supposed to arrive at Pier 59 of the Chelsea Piers on
April 17th, 1912. During a visit to Macy’s Flower Show, we’d seen the plaque devoted to both Isadore and Ida Strauss, owners of Macy’s who both perished on the Titanic. Ida refused to leave her husband of 50 years.
We visited the Pier, now the Chelsea Piers driving range, and were sure to pass by the skeletal arch – all that remains of Pier 54 – where the 700 Titanic survivors were delivered by the RMS Carpathia.
We had a wonderful and extensive tour of the Jane Hotel (Jane Street and the Hudson River), where many Titanic survivors stayed during the U.S. investigation of the Titanic disaster.
Our guided tour of the Lightship Frying Pan moored at Maritime Pier 66 of Hudson River Park – the guide took us below and above decks. The Frying Pan, a portable “lighthouse,” was submerged for three years before being salvaged and brought to NYC. Below decks has been left unrestored, so we could see firsthand (hands on) the effects that water can have in only a short time – this helped us imagine the ocean’s ravaging of the Titanic over a much longer time.
Our Titanic exploration culminated in watching Titanic at 100 – Mystery Solved on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASdJAOpkrhE
P.S. 11 HANDS ON HISTORY: PRESERVING THE PAST IN THE PRESENT
WINTER 2018 Report
VSNY Education Initiative planned and implemented by Lesley Doyel with
Teaching Assistant Katherine Fernandez
Tin Pan Alley
This was a busy semester for Hands On History. We began by learning about the history and importance of Tin Pan Alley, and joined efforts to preserve original buildings on this block of West 28th Street between Broadway and 6th Avenue. In the early 20th century, this once bustling street was the birthplace of the modern music industry, producing many songs that we still know today such as “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” and “The Sidewalks of New York.” We visited the actual place with professional tour guide, Laurence Frommer. (See Education Initiative section of VSNY website for details and Teaching Tin Pan Alley education manual.)
Trains, Transportation and Innovation
Throughout the semester participants in Hands On History (HOH) learned about various forms of “historic preservation,” which include Landmark and Historic District designation by the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission, as well as preservation of historic places through either continuous use or adaptive reuse.
The High Line and Hudson Yards
We made two field trips to the repurposed freight train trestle now a public park known as the High Line. We learned that only freight trains carrying produce and goods up and down Manhattan’s far Westside traveled on these tracks. We visited Chelsea Market, the former headquarters of the National Biscuit Company, now NABISCO for short, and saw how a spur from the High Line actually entered the building that spans an entire city block. Also known as the birthplace of the Oreo Cookie. (Photo A)
We also traveled to the northern most section of the High Line and saw lots of new development that will be called “Hudson Yards,” which will ultimately cover the train yards originally used as a depot for the Hudson River Railroad a line running down Eleventh Avenue, as trains were not permitted to operate south of West 32nd Street because of a fear of explosions. New York Central and later Penn Central expanded the rail yards and used them as a freight terminal up until the 1970s. They are still visible.
The Terminal Warehouse Building
We visited and important relic of Manhattan’s once intensely industrial waterfront called the Terminal Warehouse, a vast structure on West 26th Street and 11th
Avenue, built in 1890. Once a loading station for trains carrying freight up and down the northeast, the central hallway of Terminal Warehouse allowed New York Central trains operating on street level to pull directly into the building from Eleventh Avenue, and Erie and Lehigh trains to pull in from Twelfth Avenue. In the huge tunnel like interior, freight would be whisked off and stored in the building’s array of storage facilities or reloaded onto a train that would take it to its next destination. (Photo B)
Pennsylvania Station and The Grand Central Terminal
Hands On History also learned about two magnificent train stations used for passenger train service; The original Pennsylvania Station on West 34th built in 1910, and the Grand Central Terminal at 42nd Street, which opened in 1913. While Grand Central has been preserved as a NYC Landmark, the 1910 Penn Station was tragically demolished in 1963. However, the loss of this glorious building was a watershed event, and gave rise to New York’s historic preservation movement, and the creation of the NYC Landmarks Law in 1965.
Hands On History toured Grand Central twice, the first time also visiting the Transit Museum’s Annual Holiday model train show, and also explored the lower level of the current Penn Station to see the “Ghost Series” mural installation evoking the sculptures and columns that once graced the original Pennsylvania Station. (Photo C)
New Train Hubs in lower Manhattan
While learning about the importance of both freight and passenger train stations and hubs in Manhattan, we also learned about the complexities of the extensive track system under the city streets, and about the New York City’s Metropolitan Transit Authority, the MTA, overseeing the NYC subway system, one of the oldest and largest in the world. We visited two brand new transportation hubs in lower Manhattan; The new Fulton Center, which incorporates and preserves the 1888 Corbin building, as well as the monumental Oculus train hub at the site of the former World Trade Center. (Photos D, E & F)
Madison Square Park and History in LEGOS
During the holiday season, we’d also taken a trip to Madison Square Park, to see the site of America’s first community Christmas tree, a tradition that continues, and visited the LEGO store on 23rd and Fifth Avenue featuring a three-dimensional frieze illustrating the entire history of the Madison Square area made completely out of LEGO pieces. (Photo G)
The Man in the Moon Discovered and Rediscovered
Across the street from P.S. 11, the HOH class found a sculpted image that many people don’t even notice. The image on the iron fence outside a residence on West 21st Street pays homage to an early silent movie made in 1902 called A Trip to the Moon about a space ship from earth landing in the eye of the moon, and was created by innovative film maker, Georges Méliès, and inspired by the books of Jules Verne. (Photos H & I)
Especially because we know the Man in the Moon with Rocket image from our own experience, and because we’ve visited many train stations and seen so many station clocks, our semester culminated with a viewing of HUGO, a 2011 movie directed by Martin Scorsese, adapted from Brian Selznick’s graphic novel, The Invention of Hugo Cabret.
In short, the film is about a boy who, through tragic circumstances, lives alone in the walls of the magnificent Montparnasse railway station in Paris during the 1930s. But Hugo has learned the intricate art of clock making from his late father, and ends up maintaining the Station’s elaborate system of clocks. Befriended by a girl named Isabelle, she and Hugo eventually discover that Isabelle’s godfather is none other than George Méliès, the bitter and long forgotten genius who’d made the ground breaking silent film A Trip to the Moon – source of the image on the gate across the street from school. When you see the fantastical gate, your Hands On History expert will surely point out that the image is accidentally backwards. The New HOH semester begins on Wednesday, February 28th, 2018.
P.S. 11 HANDS ON HISTORY: PRESERVING THE PAST IN THE PRESENT
FALL 2017 Report
Hands On History: Preserving the Past in the Present, an Education Initiative of the Victorian Society New York.
By Lesley Doyel
P.S. 11 Hands On History Students with an actual tin pan and Save Tin Pan Alley event flyer.
The teacher’s manual called Teaching Tin Pan Alley: Saving and Celebrating a Side Street of New York, has evolved from the P.S. 11 after school class called Hands On History:
Preserving the Past in the Present, an Education Initiative of the Metropolitan Chapter of the Victorian Society New York.
In this weekly after school class, instructor Lesley Doyel, provides an up close and personal exploration of local Chelsea history, and that of surrounding neighborhoods. The class also investigates various ways of preserving the past though designation of both individual buildings and/or historic districts by the New York Landmarks Preservation Commission, or through the repurposing of existing structures via adaptive reuse.
This fall, Hands On History (HOH) students are learning about West 28th Street – the birthplace of the popular music industry in the late 19th and early 20th century. Songs like The Side Walks of New York, The Maple Leaf Rag by Scott Joplin, and Irving Berlin’s Alexander’s Ragtime Band, still known and enjoyed today. Since P.S. 11 is on West 21st Street, it was possible to visit the actual site, and to look for evidence of the past. Amazingly, this includes a number of Tin Pan Alley’s original buildings, including Number 40, where Take Me Out to the Ball Game was penned in 1908. On a tour of the site with Laurence Frommer, students also learned that the area directly adjacent to West 28th Street was the bustling New York theater district in those days.
Hands On History Student visiting West 28th Street with historic Tin Pan Alley buildings in the background.
In class, HOH students learned that before radio and record players, sheet music was the way in which many songs became well known. Sheet music made it possible for these songs to be played on pianos and sung in homes throughout America. Hands On History students also experienced first-hand, the clatter and noise created by banging on an actual tin pans – simulating the cacophony made by many pianos playing different songs all at the same time – hence the moniker, Tin Pan Alley.
In addition to other projects included in Teaching Tin Pan Alley, Hands On History will, as a class, be writing a letter urging the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission to preserve the historic buildings on West 28th Street, which they now know to be a very special side street of New York – before it’s too late!
Download the Hands On History: Teaching Tin Pan Alley Teacher’s Manual