KIDS IN THE CASTLE

Believe it or not, there were elementary school children and high school seniors roaming the hallways of the Castle when the first HSMA freshmen arrived. 

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During his second year as the mayor of New York City, Fiorello H. LaGuardia continued in his push to open his personal project for the arts. The area where Lincoln Center resides was first proposed but because of budgetary issues, the decision was made to attempt the new idea for the school in the New York Training School for Teachers located on 135th Street and St. Nicholas Terrace. The ‘Training School’ (1931 – 1933) had been abolished during the depression. 

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During 1935, Mayor LaGuardia seized the opportunity to utilize the building space but the gothic themed structure was not unoccupied. There were children and female high school seniors already there roaming the hallways of the Castle. ​​

The following are excerpts from the book ‘Accent on Talent,' by Benjamin M. Steigman  (principal of M&A, 1937‐1959):
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Page 31
 
The meager subsistence granted in the middle thirties to musicians and artists was reflected in the initial allotment of funds for HSMA. The authorities may have felt that LaGuardia’s urge to get the school going might subside, so let there be no rash commitments.  Should his eagerness persist he would appreciate, proud as he was of his battle against waste, a proper show of economy. And so a prudent beginning was announced. There were some vacant rooms in the building up on St. Nicholas Terrace at 135th Street that had housed the gradually depleted New York Training School for Teachers and was used in part by Public School 134 and in part as an annex of Wadleigh High School for girls. Tentative arrangements were made for their gradual evacuation, should the new school take hold and grow.
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It was a precarious beginning. The dozen available rooms had only token music and art equipment; and the first group of 250 selected elementary school graduates (125 for art, 125 for music) who were admitted in February 1, 1936, were in some respects part of Wadleigh High School and took their academic work with teachers of the 

school. The Wadleigh seniors were relatively tall mature young women who must have found their over-eager, darting twelve- and thirteen-year-old schoolmates a bit trying. And so must the little six- and eight-year-olds of P.S. 134, not always sheltered from the rush of the newcomers through the halls between classes.
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Page 34
 
Some day, the hope was held out they would be in complete possession of the building, and then provision would be made for all their requirements. Meanwhile, they must submit to the divided rule, with the public school under the jurisdiction of the elementary-school division of the board of education, HSMA under the high-school division.
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Page 35
 
The division between the two “divisions” was distinct and pronounced. An elementary-school assistant superintendent supervised his own domain, and let there be no infringement, no trespassing thereupon! Should a bewildered HSMA first-timer find himself beyond the swinging doors that separated the two schools, an indignant call would come from the assistant superintendent ‘s office, most likely followed by an indignant call from the high-school assistant superintendent ‘s office. Territorial integrity of each of the two zones was sometimes put to the test and diplomatic relations between them strained. Example: occupation of the faculty lunchroom was shared by the teachers of both schools, with guaranteed freedom of access at all times, and due precaution taken against any provocative incident such as might be caused by an HSMA student, late for class, making a flying leap across a P.S. 134 teacher’s borders.

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The concrete school yard was public-school territory, the P.S. 134 children played there in relays the whole day, and their shrill voices outside made the distraught HSMA French teachers in the rooms on the second floor right above raise their eyes to heaven and mutter appeals to the name-of-a-name. It was several years before a new public-school building was completed so that those children could move out. ​1

​Next time you roam the hallways of the Castle, look closely. You might find the crayon etchings of former playful students.
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1  Benjamin M. Steigman, Accent on Talent, Detroit, Wayne State University Press (1964): 31 - 35

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