Main Street School

Main Street School
The Main Street School in 2025
Main Street School is located in Long Island
Main Street School
Location on Long Island
Main Street School is located in New York
Main Street School
Location in New York state
Main Street School is located in the United States
Main Street School
Location within the Contiguous United States
LocationMain and South Washington Streets,
Port Washington, New York
Coordinates40°49′51″N 73°41′47″W / 40.8308°N 73.6965°W / 40.8308; -73.6965
Area5.5 acres (2.2 ha)
Built1908
ArchitectDusinberre, Ralph & Cornell, Frank
Architectural styleGeorgian Revival
NRHP reference No.83001714[1]
Significant dates
Added to NRHPFebruary 10, 1983
Designated NYSLJanuary 4, 1983
Designated TNHDLJuly 23, 1985

The Main Street School – also known as the Landmark on Main Street Community Center or simply the Landmark on Main Street – is a community center, retirement home, and historic school building located on Main Street in Port Washington, in Nassau County, New York, United States.

Description

The school was completed in 1909 in the Georgian Revival style. It was built as a two-story, brick building with stone detailing and a cement-stucco faced raised basement level. A third story was added during a 1917 expansion.[2]

It features a steep gable roof topped by an ornamental cupola with four clock faces. The roof has five gable dormers with round-headed windows.[2]

History

In the early 1900s, citing the need for a purpose-built high school to serve the growing Port Washington community, the Port Washington Union Free School District proposed the erection of a large, new school on Main Street; the district's existing schools were too small to efficiently function as a high school.[3] After a bond measure to construct the Main Street School was subsequently approved by district residents in a vote of 55-to-46, construction on this new school began, with the cornerstone being laid on September 21, 1908.[3] It was ultimately completed the following year, and it was expanded between 1916 and 1917.[2][3]

In 1929, after the district opened a new high school – the present-day Carrie Palmer Weber Middle School – off Port Washington Boulevard (NY 101), the Main Street School was repurposed by the district to serve as an elementary school.

In 1985, the Port Washington Union Free School District closed the Main Street School.[3] The property was subsequently acquired by the Town of North Hempstead, which transformed it and the historic school building into senior citizen housing and a large community center – roles which it continues to serve as of 2025.[2][3]

Landmark designations

In 1983, the building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places and the New York State Register of Historic Places.[1][4] Two years later, on July 23, 1985, it was listed as a Town of North Hempstead Designated Landmark.[5][6]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
  2. ^ a b c d Austin O'Brien (December 1982). "National Register of Historic Places Registration: Main Street School". New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. Retrieved November 20, 2010. See also: "Accompanying six photos".
  3. ^ a b c d e "The History of Our School District". www.portnet.org. Retrieved August 7, 2025.
  4. ^ "Cultural Resource Information System (CRIS)". cris.parks.ny.gov. Retrieved October 22, 2024.
  5. ^ "Town of North Hempstead - Historic Landmarks Preservation Commission". northhempsteadny.gov. Retrieved October 19, 2024.
  6. ^ "LIST OF TOWN OF NORTH HEMPSTEAD DESIGNATED LANDMARKS" (PDF). Landmarks Preservation Commission. Town of North Hempstead. June 30, 2015.
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