Presenting a collection of Gothic style architectural limestone carvings from the A. Philip Randolph Campus High School
Ripley Auctions is excited to present a collection of Gothic style architectural limestone carvings from the A. Philip Randolph Campus High School in Harlem, NYC.
The carvings are featured in our inaugural Humanitiques Live Auction.
Carved 1924-1926 by William Bradley & Son Cut Stone Contractors, each limestone sculpture was removed by hand from the the A. Philip Randolph Campus High School, Harlem, NYC, to be precisely reproduced/replaced for the effort of historic preservation of the building in 2020.
Above image provided by the NYC School Construction Authority
The NYC School Construction Authority graciously provided us with the following statement regarding the recent restoration process- “Perched high over Harlem overlooking St. Nicholas Park, sits the 220,000 sq. ft. A. Phillip Randolph High School designed by William H. Gompert, former Chief Architect for the New York Board of Education,” said Adam Schiffmacher, Architect from the Architecture & Engineering In-House Design Studio. “The restoration project embodies the complexities of what a building envelope project consists of at the SCA. Next year the building will turn 100 years old and we were challenged with marrying modern building practices with century old design and construction while restoring the historic character.”
Above image provided by the NYC School Construction Authority
APRCHS occupies a building designed in the Collegiate Gothic style by William H. Gompert, Architect & Superintendent of School Buildings for the New York City Board of Education. Constructed from 1924 to 1926, the building opened as the first built for the New York Training School for Teachers, established in 1898 to provide elementary school teachers for the Board of Education. The Training School became the New York Teachers Training College in 1931, but a surplus of teachers during the Depression led to the abolishment of the school in 1933.
The A. Philip Randolph Campus High School is a four-year public high school in New York City. It is located in Harlem, adjacent to the City College of New York. It occupies a landmark building formerly occupied by The High School of Music & Art.
Above image provided by the NYC School Construction Authority
A. Philip Randolph was a labor leader and civil rights activist who founded the nation’s first major Black labor union, the
Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (BSCP) in 1925. In the 1930s, his organizing efforts helped end both racial
discrimination in defense industries and segregation in the U.S. armed forces. Randolph was also a principal organizer of
the March on Washington in 1963, which paved the way for passage of the Civil Rights Act the following year.
Above images provided by the NYC School Construction Authority. The interior of the school is shown in the last image, depicting the entire restoration process of both the interior and exterior of the high school.