C. B. J. Snyder
Charles B. J. Snyder was an American architect, architectural engineer, and mechanical engineer in the field of urban school building design and construction. He is widely recognized for his leadership, innovation, and transformation of school building construction process, design, and quality during his tenure as Superintendent of School Buildings for the New York City Board of Education between 1891 and 1923.
Background
Snyder was born November 4, 1860, in Stillwater, New York. He was the middle of three children born to George I. Snyder and Charity Ann Snyder . His two siblings, both sisters, were Ella G. Snyder and Katy Snyder.He completed public schooling in Stillwater, New York. In 1879, he arrived in New York City, and worked four years with builders in preparation for his profession. In 1883, he began the practice of architecture.
Snyder earned two credentials from Cooper Union technical schools: Cooper Union Free Night School of Science, Class C — Third-Year: May 28, 1881 — Certificate, Practical Geometry.; and Cooper Union School of Art, May 28, 1884 — Certificate, Elementary Architectural Drawing.
From the mid to later 1880s, Snyder worked with William E. Bishop, a New York City master carpenter. Little is known about Bishop. Beginning more than a decade before Snyder's birth, Bishop maintained a lifelong hobby as a volunteer fireman and held a positions of leadership in various firemen companies.
Superintendent of School Buildings
At its last meeting of the school year, July 8, 1891, the New York City Board of Education elected Snyder as Superintendent of Buildings, to succeed George W. Debevoise, who had resigned. Of the thirteen votes cast, Snyder received twelve. It's not clear how Snyder won the support, but he may have had a connection with the banker Robert Maclay, head of the Board of Education's Building Committee. Snyder named his younger son "Robert Maclay". From the time of his appointment until the consolidation of the City of Greater New York in 1898, Snyder oversaw Manhattan and The Bronx.On January 1, 1898, The City of New York consolidated with the City of Brooklyn, the County of New York, the County of Richmond, and the western portion of the County of Queens. After the consolidation, Snyder retained his position as Superintendent of School Buildings for the NYC BoE.
School design innovations
Snyder saw school buildings as civic monuments for a better society. He was concerned with health and safety issues in public schools and focused on fire protection, ventilation, lighting, and classroom size. Snyder used terra cotta blocks in floor construction to improve fireproofing, and large and numerous windows to allow more light and air into the classrooms. He also developed new methods for mechanical air circulation in school buildings. The problem of school design in New York was compounded by the relatively constricted sites which were necessitated by the high cost of land acquisition.- The H-plan design was first implemented by Snyder on a school in 1898 and was inspired by the Hotel de Cluny in Paris which Snyder had seen in 1896.
- The use of steel skeleton framing for buildings over four stories allowed for cheaper and faster construction as well as an increased span of window openings.
- Because of the need to produce many buildings in a short time, Snyder's office improved the design and planning ideas of earlier schools and sometimes used the same basic design for several schools.
- Snyder reorganized the Deputy Superintendents so that each was responsible for a single part of the building — such as design and planning, heating and ventilating, electricity, plumbing and drainage, furniture, and inspection and records — and each reported directly to him.
Retirement
Notable architecture
As Superintendent, Snyder is credited with the design of over 400 structural projects — including more than 140 elementary schools. Snyder worked in several styles, including Beaux Arts, English Collegiate Gothic, Jacobean, and Dutch Colonial. He preferred mid-block locations away from busy and polluted avenues. One of his signature motifs was to design spaces for learning that would offer a respite from noisy streets and poverty.featuring the 15th Street facade of Snyder's Stuyvesant High School building
Elementary schools
The Bronx- Public School 17; now
- PS 27 NYC Landmark
- PS 28 - a.k.a. The Mount Hope School, a plaque at the entrance verifies that Snyder was the architect, designing it in 1896–7, but the numeric designation on the plaque is altered
- PS 32 in Little Italy area, 183rd and Beaumont- a beautiful red-brick, terra-cotta & gargoyle redstone Gothic structure
- PS 50 172nd and Vyse Ave
- PS 95, 345 Van Sicklen Street
- PS 157, 850 Kent Avenue
- PS 133, 375 Butler Street
- PS 130, 70 Ocean Parkway
- PS 132, 320 Manhattan Avenue
- PS 1, Alfred E. Smith School ; this building featured what some believe was the world's first rooftop playground
- Public School 9 ; PS 9 moved to a new building nearby in 1965, and the old building is now the Mickey Mantle School.
- PS 11, one of few New York City public schools to have a swimming pool
- PS 17, now PS 212 Midtown West
- PS 20, now the Rivington House
- PS 23, now a community center that houses, among other things, the Chen Dance Center.
- PS 40
- PS 42
- PS 61
- PS 64 NYC Landmark
- PS 67, later HS of Performing Arts; later Liberty HS, currently Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis High School NYC Landmark
- PS 90, built in 1905, the building had been abandoned for several decades, but artistic graffiti transformed the fence and walls into a shrine honoring several deceased renowned African Americans. On April 4, 2008, the City deeded the property to "West 147th Associates LLC," a condominium entity created in 2004 by the developer. With little fanfare, the developer, L+M Development Partners Inc., commenced construction of mixed-income condominiums; the aim is to refurbish the original facade and keep the "H pattern" design intact. The building is now addressed 217 W 147th St.
- PS 95, now HS 560 City As School
- PS 109, now El Barrio's ArtSpace PS 109, an affordable housing project for artists; National Register
- PS 110
- PS 150; later Hunter College Model School; later MachinrefMetal Trades HS; currently Life Sciences Secondary School
- PS 160, now home to Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural and Educational Center
- PS 157, apartments since 1990, about to convert into a co-op National Register
- PS 165, now housing selective middle school Mott Hall II in addition to the Robert E. Simon School, which is a pre-K through 8 school.
- NYC Landmark
- PS 168, now a community health facility
- PS 171, now PS/IS 171, the Patrick Henry School. Built 1899.
- PS 186, in 1975 this structure was so run down that parents held protests and the city opened a new school across the street. The Convent Avenue Baptist Church bought it January 1986 with the intention of creating a new space for its M.L. Wilson Boys' Club. The mortgage was satisfied February 2006. But, as of 2008, no improvement have been made and the building is still vacant. The contract between the New York County Local Development Corporation and the M.L. Wilson Boys Club required that significant development be completed on the property within three years of the contract date.
- Public School 66 National Register
- PS 28; Richmondtown Historical Society NYC Landmark
High schools
- Morris High School NYC Landmark
- Erasmus Hall High School NYC Landmark
- Manhattan Trade School for Girls
- Stuyvesant High School, the second home NYC Landmark
- Washington Irving High School.
- DeWitt Clinton High School, now Haaren Hall on the campus of John Jay College of Criminal Justice. It was the largest high school building in the United States when it opened in 1903.
- Wadleigh High School for Girls; later Wadleigh JHS 88 NYC Landmark
- Newtown High School NYC Landmark
- Flushing High School NYC Landmark, National Register
- Curtis High School NYC Landmark
Structural additions
- 1912 Addition to Girls' High School
- PS 72, later PS 107, now ,. NYC Landmark
- PS 4
- Curtis High School completed 1904, still standing.
Demolished structures
- 24th Ward School; later Evander Childs High School Annex; later Resthaven Nursing Home
- PS 31 former NYC Landmark
- PS 6
Professional affiliations
Family and personal life
There is no known record indicating what his two middle initials stand for.Snyder married Harriet Katharine de Vries on September 11, 1889, at the home of the bride's parents in Jersey City Heights.
. They had two sons, Howard Halsey Snyder and Robert Maclay Snyder.
Snyder was a member of the Kane Lodge No. 454, Free and Accepted Masons ; the Jerusalem Chapter, No. 8, Royal Arch Masons,; Order of Harugari, Martha Lodge No. 1,830 of Union Hill, New Jersey; and the Royal Arcanum Huguenot Council, No. 397.
Snyder died November 14, 1945, with his son, Robert, when they were overcome with natural gas poisoning, or carbon monoxide, or both, in their cottage in Babylon, New York. Apparently, upon retiring for the evening, the Snyders had lit the burners on the range oven to heat the rooms; but during the night the flame had been extinguished, possibly by a draft. The elder Snyder was 85, the son was 51. They both are buried in a family plot in Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx, New York City.