City Honors - Reconstruction

The single largest construction project in the history of country's second poorest City is well underway. Phase III of the one billion dollar Joint School Reconstruction Project includes the two year long renovation of City Honors High School. This project brings to a total of 100m dollars in public investment to this emerging arts and education neighborhood. Recently completed projects include - Performing Arts High School, Artspace and the Merriweather Library.

Here's the plan.

Best Street is on the left. Click here for larger image.

Here's the first in a long series of weekly reconstruction pics.

The temporary two year home for City Honors High School students is School #8, pictured below on East Utica and Masten Avenue.

School #8 is a short two blocks away from the recently renovated Performing Arts HS and directly across the street from the Queen City Farm project. fixBuffalo readers may remember the year long series of pics involving the reconstruction of that school, here's the archive.

City Honors is a local landmark and is also on the National Register of Historic Places. Retired City Honors English teacher Chuck LaChiusa has documented the history - right here. Originally known as Fosdick Masten, this city high school also has a well loved local history museum - Hilltop Museum. One of the schools most famous graduates and best known intellectuals from Buffalo's East side, Richard Hofstadter (1916 - 1970), graduated from Fosdick Masten High School in 1933. Harry Emerson Fosdick (1878 -1969) son of Principal Frank Fosdick, went on to become the first minister at Riverside Church in New York.

I'll be following construction developments here at City Honors on a weekly basis. I'll also have some interviews from Board of Education Architect Paul McDonnell and City Honors Principal Bill Kresse about the plans to rehab and add a few major structures to the City Honors campus.

The school frames part of this East side neighborhood and is a very short 10 blocks from Performing Arts HS, just down Masten Avenue.

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