from the Manual of the Corporation of the City of New York, 1870 (copyright expired)
An announcement in the New York Herald on September 29, 1864 informed New Yorkers about the newly opened Manhattan Academy, a branch of Manhattan College. It said:
This new academy is now ready for the reception of students. Its object is to afford the important advantages of commercial, scientific, classical and moral education. Terms: Classical department, $12 per quarter; Commercial department, $12 per quarter; Intermediate department, $8 per quarter; Primary department, $5 per quarter.
The more expensive tuition would translate to about $250 per quarter in 2026. That initial ad, however, did not mention the non-educational costs. There were also an entrance fee, board, a "washing" fee, and a physician's fee. The total yearly cost would equal $5,700 today.
Operated by the Brothers of Christian Schools, the Manhattan Academy was organized in 1864 and chartered the following year. An ad in King's Manual of the Corporation of the City of New York commented, "The location is healthy, and a few minutes' walk distant from Central Park." (The 27-block stroll might not be described as "a few minutes' walk" today.)
The academy's newly built structure at 127 West 32nd Street (later 213 West 32nd Street) was four stories tall above a high English basement. Shallow buttresses divided its symmetrical, Gothic Revival-style facade into five vertical sections. The large Gothic-pointed arch that held the double-doored entrance was echoed in the windows of the first through third floors. The exception were the centered openings, which, like the fourth floor, were square-headed and wore Gothic drip moldings. A regimented corbel table ran below the minimal cornice, and a mansard-capped cupola or bell tower sat atop the roof.
Each year, the students underwent a three-day "annual examination," or what today might be called finals. The tests culminated with an awards and honors ceremony. The New-York Tribune reported on the 1868 ceremony on July 1. "The exercises were held at the Everett Rooms, where a very large audience was assembled, among whom were a number of clergymen," said the article. "The Manhattan College band furnished the music on the occasion, discoursing some very fine airs."
The newspaper reported on the academy's "rapid progress" on July 2, 1869, saying it, "now presents the combined advantages
of classical, scientific, and commercial course of instruction." In also noted, "An excellent musical corps has been organized from among the 250 students of this institution."
A rare instance of criminality within the confines of the Manhattan Academy came in the summer of 1888. On August 22, The Evening World reported, "George Burns was held in $300 bail, at Jefferson Market, this morning, for stealing a picture of Pope Pius IX, from the wall at the Manhattan Academy."
By 1891, the formerly bucolic neighborhood around Seventh Avenue and 32nd Street had changed. Now part of the often notorious Tenderloin District, its demographics had severely changed as the Black community moved here from Greenwich Village.
On January 31, 1891, The New York Times reported that the Christian Brothers had erected a new academy building at 50 Second Street. "The new academy will be opened Monday," said the article. On the same day, the Record & Guide reported that the "property known as the 'Manhattan Academy,' a five-story school building, Nos. 209 to 213 West 32d street," had been sold to Benedict Fischer for $90,000 (about $3.2 million today).
Fischer made substantial renovations and on February 14, 1892 advertised in the New York Herald, "For Sale on Favorable terms, the five story Building...formerly Manhattan College, suitable for manufacturing or business purposes."
The buyer defaulted, and in September 1898, Benedict Fischer foreclosed on the building. On November 6, the New York Herald reported that he hired architect Joseph Wolf to make additional renovations. The changes, including converting part of the building to a stable for the New York Fire-Proof Stabling Company, cost Fischer the equivalent of $195,000 today.
Fischer preserved the school's auditorium. It became home to St. James's Presbyterian Church with its all-Black congregation. Its pastor, Rev. P. Butler Thompkins, explained in the New York Observer on October 13, 1898, "Instead of the old 'Tenderloin,' we now have 'Little Africa,' for this has become the great centre of our colored population." The article said, "This entire district is without a church of any denomination for these people, except St. James's Church, which was organized by the Presbytery of New York, April 26, 1895." It noted, "The hall, 213 West Thirty-second-st., in which the congregation is now holding services, is in the same building with a stable. The ventilation is poor, the odor is bad, and the rent is high."
Three years later, St. James's Presbyterian Church was still struggling to raise funds for a permanent structure. On December 28, 1901, The Evening Post reported,
St. James Presbyterian Church, at No. 213 West Thirty-second Street, the only church of any denomination in "Little Africa" that ministers solely to the colored people, is still without a church edifice. Thirty-four thousand dollars in cash and subscriptions has been raised. Sixteen thousand dollars must be secured within the next five days, that is, by January 1, or a very large part of the $34,000 already secured will be lost to the work.
The deadline mentioned in the article was very real. The church was about to be evicted at the end of its lease. A month earlier, on November 26, The New York Times reported that Benedict Fischer's son, William H., had sold the building, calling it a "five-story stable."
The property sat within land that Alexander Cassatt was quietly amassing. On December 11, 1901, he announced the "New York Terminal and Tunnel Extension Project." The greatly abused Manhattan Academy building was erased as part of the massive venture that would bring trains directly into Manhattan from New Jersey and would include the masterful McKim, Mead & White-designed Pennsylvania Station.
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