ERASMUS HALL MUSEUM & ERASMUS HALL HIGH SCHOOL

911 Flatbush Avenue
3a. Museum: Unknown architect, 1786, New York City Individual Landmark
3b. High School: Charles B. J. Snyder, 1902–25, State and National Registers of Historic Places

Erasmus Hall Museum, which is slated to be restored and converted into the Caribbean American Chamber of Commerce and Industry, was originally Erasmus Hall Academy, a private school founded in 1786 by the Flatbush Dutch Reformed Church across the street. The inner quadrangle of Erasmus Hall High School contains the Academy’s original Georgian-Federal style frame building with hand-carved beams and clapboards. Also in the quadrangle is a statue of the Dutch Renaissance philosopher Desiderius Erasmus, the school’s namesake. Prior to the Academy’s construction, for which both Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr contributed funds, the site was home to a Dutch public school erected in 1658. The later school buildings were designed in the Collegiate Gothic style and are made of buff brick, limestone and terra cotta. Notable alumni include Barbara Stanwyck, Mickey Spillane, Bobby Fischer, Samuel LeFrack, Clive Davis and Barbra Streisand.

 

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