JAMAICA HIGH SCHOOL TIME CAPSULES - LANDMARK STATUS

March 26, 2009

JAMAICA HIGH SCHOOL'S BUILDING DESIGNATED A NEW YORK CITY LANDMARK

About 2003 Jeff Gottlieb, (shown at left) President of of the Central Queens Historical Association, set out to have JHS's building declared a NYC Landmark. On March 26, 2009 he achieved that goal.

Here is the 30 page declaration published by the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission. It includes a detailed description of the building with many pictures of its architectural features.

Here is the way the Daily News reported the LPC's decision:

JAMAICA HIGH SCHOOL, a hilltop institution known for its Georgian Revival style and famed alumni such as "The Godfather" director Francis Ford Coppola, has been designated a city landmark. Citing the sweeping structure as "a proud anchor of the community," the Landmarks Preservation Commission voted unanimously Tuesday to protect Jamaica High ...

"It really affirms the tradition of the school," said Principal Walter Acham. "We have a very, very rich heritage of alumni. The building and grounds speak for themselves."

In addition to Coppola, graduates of the three-story school, opened in 1927, include Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Alan Dugan and journalists Art Buchwald and George Vecsey. Surrounded by athletic fields, the brick building with stone trim features granite columns and a tiered cupola - Colonial elements intended to "Americanize" early students, most of whom were European immigrants.

Landmarks Chairman Robert Tierney described the school as "dignified" and heralded its "elaborate drives and terraces." Jeff Gottlieb of the Central Queens Historical Association, whose research led to the landmarking, said he hoped the designation would foster protection of other notable sites in Jamaica. (Nicholas Hirshon, New York Daily News, March 27, 2009)

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