The New York Landmarks Conservancy Presents: Tourist in Your Own Town # 13 - C.B.J. Snyder (Public Schools)
This month we are highlighting the architectural designs by the unsung New York hero C.B.J. Snyder. As Superintendent of Schools from 1891 to 1923, he is credited with the design of over 400 structural projects. Through his leadership and innovation Snyder transformed the school building construction process, creating beautiful buildings in Beaux Arts, Flemish Renaissance revival and Collegiate Gothic Styles. These new designs and innovations left an amazing imprint on the City and gave children a better environment for learning; classrooms with larger windows, quality construction with better fireproofing and interior courtyards for light and air ventilation.
Millions of New Yorkers have benefited from the work of C.B.J. Snyder and the countless others that helped design, build and maintain these treasured cathedrals of learning. If you haven’t had the pleasure to walk their halls stop and look around as you walk by next time. They remain some of the loveliest buildings in the City and they stand as memorials to a great architect and a great New Yorker.
