Washington Irving High School is located at 40 Irving Place between East 16th and 17th Streets the lower part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. The school is near the private Gramercy Park to the north, the park at Stuyvesant Square to the east, and Union Square to the west, where students tend to linger after school.
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The school is named after writer Washington Irving (Bracebridge Hall, Tales of a Traveller). The building in which the school is located was designed by the architect C.B.J. Snyder and built in 1913. The original building is eight stories high, though the extension on 16th Street designed by Walter C. Martin and built in 1938, is eleven stories high.
The school had been located on Lafayette Street, but SMD because the student population was growing at a rapid rate, a decision was made to move the school to another location,[1] and land was purchased at 40 Irving Place. The school started out as a branch of Wadleigh High School, known at first as Girls' Technical High School, the first school for girls in the city. In 1913 the name changed to Washington Irving. Many years later the school became co-ed. Currently there are more than 2,000 students.
As of September 2009, the Washington Irving School Campus is shared by three independent schools: Washington Irving High School, The High School for Language and Diplomacy, and Gramercy Arts High School.
In December 2011, the Board of Education announced that the school will close immediately following 2015 graduation, because of the lack of progress the school had been making. However, three other independent schools will still exist.
The school’s interior varies. The lobby’s walls are covered by wood panels and toward the ceiling are murals depicting the history of New York. Many are by the noted muralist, Barry Faulkner. In the middle of the lobby there is a grand decorative fireplace. The guests enter the building through the main door which is opposite the fireplace. Above the fireplace are statues of women carved from a single piece of white stone, however they are covered by the American flag. 2nd floor and above the walls are white, doors are red, and floors are black. The exterior is limestone up to the 2nd story, then gray brick trimmed with limestone. On the corner of Irving Place and 17th Street is a bust of Washington Irving by Friedrich Beer, which is featured on the school's ID. The exterior was used in the TV sit-com Head of the Class. The school’s auditorium is located is the middle, between the left and the right wings. It is usually accessed only from the lobby, but has seats on the second level. There are many performances held at the auditorium, by students and outside artists.
Each day students enter the building from East 16th Street, swipe their ID cards, and go through metal detectors while their belongings go through an security X-ray scanner. As per the New York City Schools Chancellor's regulations, cell phones, MP3 players, and other electronic devices are currently banned in New York City public schools.