The Oyster Bay High School located on East Main Street was built in 1928 and designed by architect’s Tooker and Marsh. Before this, the site was the home to Dr. Matthew Parish, who settled in Oyster Bay in the early 1700’s and Zeruiah Townsend, daughter of Mill John Townsend as per John Hammond in his 2002 book Oyster Bay Remembered. Oyster Bay needed a new high school because of a population boom of school aged children in the 1920’s resulting in the overcrowding of the current school. The high school was completed during the winter of 1928-1929 and the school officially opened in February 1929.
In 1986, Kurt Kahofer produced a summary of the building for the Division for Historic Preservation. The summary states, “the four story school building incorporates forms and detail of the Tudor, Gothic, Art Deco, and Beaux arts styles. A central three bay, four story section is flanked by symmetrical pairs of five bay wings which in turn are flanked by solid massive “book end” sections.”
“Throughout the façade, stone blocks cap the brick piers that divide each bay section from another these end as parapets above the roof. Below the parapet is a stone frieze with Gothic detail. A mock vaulted ceiling covers the vestibule. Inside, the main auditorium has similar Gothic details including diamond paned leaded windows, Tudor type wall paneling, stucco and stone quoined walls and a pair of tabernacle canopies that flank a decorated proscenium.”
When completed, the high school successfully incorporated the artistic styles of Gothic, Tudor and Art Deco, making the building architecturally pleasing.
~D. Sokolowski
Photographs courtesy of Oyster Bay Historical Society
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