Little Red's High School Expands Into Historic Townhouse

The Little Red School House, progressively educating NYC's youngsters since 1921, is finishing up the first phase of the expansion of its Elisabeth Irwin High School on Charlton Street down in Soho. The plan from ABA Studio connects the original gothic-inspired five-story school building to a three-story brick townhouse next door at 42 Charlton Street, and adds room for another 60 inquisitive young minds. From the street it all looks perfectly historical, and that's how it had to be since the school sits within the little Charlton-King-Vandam Historic District. But behind the landmarked facades there's all sorts of new stuff, including a renovated theater auditorium, a new performing arts center and a batch of state-of-the-art classrooms overlooking an enclosed courtyard. The rear of the townhouse has an abstracted light-reflecting screen, enclosing exterior passageways and keeping things cool inside. That's "cool" in the temperature sense, of course. We all know these kids are hopeless dweebs.
· Building for Action - Charlton Street Renovation [lrei.org]
· Little Red Elisabeth Irwin High School [ABA Studio]