Generally Speaking: New school rises at old precinct house site
A new school, designated as P.S. 557, is under construction at the site of the old 68th Precinct stationhouse on the southeast corner of Fourth Avenue and 43rd Street. What’s unique about the new building is that it incorporates the existing front and side façade of the historic three-story precinct into the new three- to five-story school.
The school will serve 332 students from pre-kindergarten to fifth grade. It will include a gymnasium, rooftop playground, classrooms, music and reading resource rooms and a “cafetorium,” which is School Construction Authority jargon for a combination cafeteria and auditorium.
The stationhouse was built in 1886 for the Brooklyn city police force’s 18th Precinct, at a time when the area was considered a part of Bay Ridge. It had an adjacent two-story stable, a paddy wagon on the first floor and a hayloft on the second. The precinct later became the 68th, and since the 1960s the area has been recognized as Sunset Park.