Lafayette High School (Buffalo, New York)

Lafayette High School

Lafayette High School, Buffalo NY, April 2011
Location 370 Lafayette Ave., Buffalo, New York
Coordinates 42°55′15″N 78°53′5″W / 42.92083°N 78.88472°W / 42.92083; -78.88472Coordinates: 42°55′15″N 78°53′5″W / 42.92083°N 78.88472°W / 42.92083; -78.88472
Built 1901
Architect Esenwein & Johnson
Architectural style Beaux Arts
NRHP Reference #

80002608

[1]
Added to NRHP December 3, 1980
Lafayette High School

Loyalty, Honor, Service
Address
370 Lafayette Avenue
West Side
Buffalo, New York, Erie 14213
United States United States
Information
School type Public, Coeducational High School
Status Priority School
School board Buffalo Board of Education
School district Buffalo Public Schools
School number 204
Principal Denise E. Clarke
Grades 8,10-12
Enrollment 618
Color(s) Purple and White          
Slogan Where the World Comes to Learn
Team name Violets
Newspaper The Triangle
Yearbook The Oracle
Website Lafayette High School

Lafayette High School is the oldest public school in Buffalo that remains in its original building; a stone, brick and terra-cotta structure in the French Renaissance Revival style, by architects August Esenwein and James A. Johnson. Although classes began off-site during construction of the school, the building was completed, and graduated its first class, in 1903. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.[1] It is located in Buffalo's Upper West Side at 370 Lafayette Avenue.

Lafayette operates as a 7-12 school for international and neighborhood students. The current principal is Mrs. Denise Clarke, and the current assistant principals are Mr. Craig Brodnicki, and Ms. Yulonda Middleton.

Academics

Lafayette High School currently serves as home to many Buffalo high school students learning English as a second language.

History

Lafayette High School was the third high school built in Buffalo, New York. It has fallen into recent struggles with academics and has been placed on New York State's Watch List of Persistently Underperforming Schools. After the 2010-2011 school year, the school closed and re-opened as a multicultural school with a new principal. The school also began housing seventh and eighth graders from nearby International School 45.

Former principals

Previous assignment and reason for departure denoted in parentheses

Notable alumni

Shanks (1927) and Lewin (1953), and all the art students in between were influenced by the Miss Elizabeth Weiffenbach, who taught art at the school for over forty years. These included Jack Smart (class of 1922), an artist who also played The Fat Man on 1940s radio; and Irving Jeremiah Goodman (class of 1939), a contemporary artist specializing in room still lifes. Turner rowed for the U.S. in the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne, Australia, was executive editor of The Buffalo Courier-Express, and is a member of the exclusive Gridiron Club in Washington, D.C.

The public school is supported by the private Lafayette High School Alumni Association. In 1999, the association restored the building's landmark lantern or "cupola", which had deteriorated and been demolished for safety reasons in the 1970s. In May 2003, the association sponsored and ran a 100th Anniversary Celebration, attended by over 1,700 alumni and their guests, raising $30,000 for the school. The funds will establish the Ramsi P. Tick media room in memory of entrepreneur Tick, an LHS alumnus and philanthropist. The association also awards several annual grants and scholarships for worthy causes and students, and on Sunday, August 4, 2013 is holding a free All-Class Reunion to celebrate the school's one hundred and tenth year.

As their logos, the school and the Association use the LHS Triangle (Lafayette High School; Loyalty, Honor, Service), and the Lafayette Angel.

Gallery

References

  1. 1 2 Staff (2008-04-15). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
  2. Heaney, J. (1997, June 23). Retirements, transfers may mean new principals for 10 city - schools. The Buffalo News, p. B4.
  3. Buffalo Public Schools (2004, June 9). Meeting of the Board of Education: Principal Transfers.
  4. 1 2 Buffalo Public Schools (2008, August 13). Meeting of the Board of Education: Administrative Appointments.
  5. Buffalo Public Schools (2011, September 14). Meeting of the Board of Education: Administrative Appointments.
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