This fine brick and brownstone Renaissance Revival building closed as a school in 1974. New York architect George Ranalli, who was commissioned by a new owner to adapt its spacious classrooms into condominiums, inserted a two-story “mini-building” into each apartment for the kitchen and private areas, leaving a “facade” of doors and windows to overlook a living space the full height of the original room. With the “buildings” painted in vivid colors (varying from unit to unit) and the outside walls of the original rooms in pale neutrals, the “buildings” seem to overlook a plaza, so inside has illusions of outside. The idea was in the air around 1980, but here it is superbly done, as testified by widespread publication in architectural magazines of the period.
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Callender School
c. 1862, George Champlin Mason, Sr. 1909. c. 1980, conversion to condominiums, George Ranalli. 11 Willow St. (at 3rd St.)
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