Public School 274
800 Bushwick Avenue
Between De Kalb Avenue and Kosciuszko Street
Block 3241, Lot 37
Laurel Albrecht, 2011 |
Year Built: 1959-1961
Building Type: Public School
Architect: Michael L. Radoslovich
Builder: Wilka Wilaka Construction Co.
Original Owner: Brooklyn Board of Education
Proposed District: N/A
History and Analysis
In 1959, the Board of Education, under Superintendent John Theobald, awarded the contract for the construction of this building to Wilka Wilaka Construction Company. The area had been plagued with extreme overcrowding and the community had long needed a new elementary school. The school was originally built to accommodate 1,194 pupils from kindergarten to 6th grade and cost $2,232,154.[1]
The buidling was designed by Michael L. Radoslovich, an architect educated at MIT who served as superintendent of school buildings in Brooklyn from 1952-1969. During this time, he reorganized the in-house architectural team and worked closely with a number of outside consultants to reinvent the designs of public schools. The designs that his office produced followed the trend started after World War II of experimentation with the design principles of European Modernism, emulating Le Corbusier and Walter Gropius.[2]
Additional Photography
Laurel Albrecht, 2001 |
Location
External Links
New School Contract Raises Relief Hopes
PS 274 Kosciusko Home Page
References
“New School Contract Raises Relief Hopes,” New York Amsterdam News. October 3, 1959. Proquest Historical Newspapers New York Amsterdamn News: 1922-1993: p. 21.
NYC Department of Education, “Modernism,” Public Art for Public Schools. Accessed April 4, 2011. http://schools.nyc.gov/community/facilities/PublicArt/Architecture/Modernism/default.htm