Referencing New Rochelle’s French heritage, New Rochelle High School was rendered in a French Gothic style infused with provincial chateau elements.
My first exposure to New Rochelle High School was a series of photographs in a 1932 article on school architecture written by James Betelle. While I had been pretty familiar with the traditional English Gothic and Neo-Classical designs of his schools, this one stood out as unique; it had a style unlike any other. Towers, dormers, finials and ornate sculptural details combined to create an edifice almost implausibly grand for a public high school. I had to see it.
Recently I arranged for a tour with a New Rochelle town official. She, along with NRHS’s Principal, were interested in my research into the school’s history–a sad chapter in its past had meant the loss of much archival information, so hopefully I could teach as much as learn.
My first stop was New Rochelle Town Hall, where I was granted access to an 8-foot tall file cabinet stuffed with plans and blueprints. Most of the material dated from the mid 50’s and on. In one drawer I did find an original Guilbert & Betelle blueprint, but it was in poor condition.
Woodrow Wilson was the original name for the school, but a scandal erupted in 1926 when it was rejected by a new school board, which favored calling it New Rochelle. A plaque in the front hall dedicating the school to Wilson was created as a concession.
The most interesting find was a series of early renderings and floor plans of the school. In these drawings, the overall proportions are the same, but the clock tower details are a bit different, featuring larger windows with elaborate Gothic tracery. More importantly, they give a better sense of what the original structure looked like before the complex maze of additions were added.
New Rochelle High School viewed from Lake Huguenot. The lake was originally an ice pond, and more recently was reconfigured to accommodate athletic fields.
Unlike most suburban schools, which tend to be crammed in densely populated town centers, NRHS is situated at the rear of a massive plot, fronted by the man-made Lake Huguenot and public park space. When I first drove up to the property, I was taken by air of civility this arrangement presented.
The myriad additions to the school are mostly in the rear of the building, which helps it maintain the classical profile. As I made my way closer to the school, however, a curious feature came into focus.
In front of the building, where once was a landscaped lawn and curved driveway now sits a semi-circular addition. It’s nearly impossible to see from the street because it’s built partially below grade with an earth-mound formed in the front as a means to obscure it. The roof of this structure is an open plaza, with a straight path leading to the main entrance.
The towers of NRHS poking up from behind the earth-mound. This addition is reminiscent of prehistoric long barrows.
The plaza is a slab of angles rendered in concrete. It’s a rather barren and uninviting space, and has the effect of diminishing and isolating the once focal entrance, reducing it to almost an afterthought. That you have to go up a set of steps to enter the front doors, but down a flight to get to the side tower doors is disconcerting.
Nevertheless, the plaza is a good location to comfortably view the details of the facade. In keeping with the French Gothic aesthetic, Betelle used an ogee arch motif over most door and windows. The central clock tower is the most ornate, with stacked reliefs of monkeys, owls and other wildlife adorning the window treatment. The tower pediment railing is decorated with seashells and fleur de lis, protected by surly gargoyles.
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Approximately 7am on the morning of May 17th, 1968, a disturbed student set fire to the school. Students, teachers and others stood on the lawn staring at the conflagration, stunned by the mass of flames and smoke. The fire raged until being doused about 2pm, but it simmered for days. The blaze completely gutted the original building. 40 years later, it is still a sharp memory to witnesses I spoke with.
Amazingly, most of the main facade was spared. The brickwork, copper and carved stone details appear to be in excellent condition. The beauty of the facade is tempered the moment you step through the front doors, however; nothing remains of the original interior. It is an entirely modern structure, hastily built after the fire to get its 3,000 students back into the building.
The transition from red buff brick and cut limestone to cinderblocks and steel is jarring; you immediately feel the scope of the loss. From within the building, the stately facade suddenly feels like a Hollywood backlot set–a beautiful exterior masking a utilitarian interior.
NRHS’s main entrance, as seen in 1929 and 2007. Note the ground level was raised to accommodate the front addition. The original doors and windows were lost in the fire of 1968.
Another loss to the fire was the original auditorium. Designed to be accessible to the community (as many were at the time), it featured a handsome entrance with carved detailing similar to the front doors. This is the only photo of it I have found, but an early rendering gives a sense of what that facade looked like in context.
NRHS was actually constructed in two phases. The first, completed in 1926, comprised the bulk of the finished school, but the front facade was only the middle portion with the clock tower. The two wings containing the side towers were added in 1931. These additions were part of the original plan, and as such blend near seamlessly with the original structure.
A curiously modern element are the large shed dormers. The second floor of the wings were double-height rooms for music and art, so the windows provided valuable natural light. Another interesting feature are the windowless oriels that were probably intended for recessed performance platforms.
One of the 1931 additions. The decoration on the left-hand window enforces the French Gothic motif. Copper gutters following the curvature of the downspout is another nice detail.
I wandered the grounds for a while, taking lots of pictures, but the sad truth is, there wasn’t much beyond the front facade to study. Nearly everything else of the exterior was either lost to the fire or simply demolished to accommodate additions (a few tantalizing bits do peek out).
While I lament not being able to walk the original halls or see what surely was a grand auditorium, what remains of Betelle’s New Rochelle High School has been treated well and continues to sit proudly on Lake Huguenot. I’m glad I saw it.
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Additional photographs can be found at my Flickr page.
A wonderful job!
A great remembrance for me… I didn’t go to the High School, but I had seen and been in it before the fire, which took place while I was in the Army.
Thanks again
Let me know if you plan to do anything on Fort Slocum
wow…
I never looked at “the high school” quite this way before.
How ironic that I went on the French exchange trip back in 1981 and marveled at the cathedrals then came back to NRHS and didn’t even notice what was right there in front of me all the time.
Seeing the picture of the building burning really made me think, especially in light of the modern acts of violence committed by “lost” students.
Thank you for a very interesting look back.
great website! I graduated from NRHS in 1980 and always marvel at the structure of the building! I remember every fourth of July going to the high school for fireworks and what a spectacualar even that was with the grand tower as a backdrop. The building is mezmerizing to me to this day whenever i pass it. I do remember back in 1978 on the 10th anniversary of the fire, a film existed of the blaze and we all huddled in the classroom to watch…. I remember it well that film.. the fire, the smoke, the people staring in disbelief… I wonder where that film is today?? Someone was shooting the blaze as it was happening! i would love to see that again.
thanks for a great site!!!
What a wonderful article. I entered NRHS the year following the fire. I can vividly remember watching the black smoke from Albert Leonard JHS. Next came split sessions,the Vietnam War, sex, drugs and rock-n-roll. NRHS is still a magnificent site and home to many memories!!!!
this website is wenderful.
I have lived all over the U.S. and tell people
about my high school and how it looks and i always get the “ya right”. this has help alot.
Thank you.
I have the same memories as Jeff Krieger. We watched from the Albert Leonard Junior High Athletic fields as the boilers exploded sending large black billows of smoke skyward. The split sessions hosted by the two local junior high schools, the trailers of temporary classrooms in the back of the school. It was quite a remarkable school for its day. It had a planetarium, indoor pool, and tennis courts on the roof of one of the wings. The library was built in front and that is the “hump” that is in front of the school. At the time (late 60’s early 70’s) the new auditorium was state of the art. Great memories from a ’73 graduate.
Thanks for the first-person recollections, Rick (and others), they really help give shape to the events of 1968.
For the sake of clarity, the pool, tennis courts and planetarium were parts later additions, not the original Guilbert & Betelle structure.
Interesting. I was in the high school building at the time when the fire in 1968 first broke out.
I was also heavily involved with the Drama Department. All of our costumes were stored in the attic above the auditorium. I was standing outside the side doors to the auditorium when the roof to the auditorium caved in around 10:00 a.m., bringing down the clock wall (opposite the side door and window walls) which also brought down into the auditorium inferno all of our lockers which were attached to the wall on the opposite side.
We got a week off from school. Then we resumed classes at Albert E. Leonard Jr. High School. Of course, first period we were busy discussing the Great Fire when all of a sudden the fire alarms went off! We fled into the halls only to smell smoke and burning wood (deja vous). Along came the sirens and the fire trucks again. They caught the same distubured youth setting fire to the lithograph room of Albert E. Leonard! This time he was arrested.
He was institutionalized. He eventually was later charged with murder in another matter and eventually committed suicide or was killed from what I heard on the grapevine.
Barry D. Hargan, President and CEO
Barry Hargan and Associates LLC
Correction to Rick Gross from Barry Hargan, Class of ’68. The high school did not have a planetarium at the time of the fire. The Planetarium was under construction at the time of the fire. An ambitious undertaking.
I can belveva that a kid fire new rochelle high school that is bad.
So poorly written that it is difficult to follow.
Even many photo blurbs are nonsensical.
Thanks for a very intersting article about New Rochelle High School. I graduated NRHS in 1976
( we were special because we had little Liberty Bells on our tassels ).
I enjoyed learning more of the background on the old school. I wish there was a link to more photos of the interior before the fire.
Hey Bill, – always wanting to poke around a little further, huh. Sounds like a good project for you.
I remember reading that newspaper article at breakfast ( I was 5 yrs old). I remember feeling outrage and disappointment.
Although I attended St. Gabes HS, the fire at NRHS greatly impacted my family…my dad, Joe Cestone, was Asst. Superintendent of Buildings and Grounds for the city and was one of the head guys responsible for the re-building project…very tough times for him and all of us! WOW! What a trip down memory lane!!!!!
Im from New Rochelle,and remember the big fire of 68.I was 12.