Boys High School

Architecture

The Romanesque Revival building is richly decorated in terracotta somewhat in the style of Louis Sullivan. The building is admired for its round corner tower, dormers, and soaring campanile.

The building was erected in 1891 on the west side of Marcy Avenue between Putnam Avenue and Madison Street. It was designed by James W. Naughton, Superintendent of Buildings at the Board of Education of the City of Brooklyn. The building is regarded as Naughton's "finest work."

When Boys High was landmarked by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1975, the commission called it "one of the finest Romanesque Revival style buildings in the city". It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on February 25, 1982.

The building was the exterior filming location for the Knickerbocker Hospital in the Cinemax period medical drama television series The Knick (2014–2015).

School

In 1975, the same year the building was landmarked, Boys High merged with Girls' High School to become Boys and Girls High School. Boys and Girls High School immediately moved to a new building at Fulton Street and Utica Avenue.

The school was a college-preparatory program with high academic standards. Congressman Emanuel Celler described Boys High in his autobiography, "I went to Boys' High School — naturally. I say "naturally" because Boys' High School then, as now, was the high school of scholarships. Boys of Brooklyn today will tell you, "It's a hard school." It was highly competitive..."

Another Boys High graduate remembered that "I went to Boys High School in Brooklyn, a great school. It was out of the classic tradition. I guess eighty percent of the student body had to take Latin — we didn't have to; we elected Latin, because we felt it was expected of us."

Notable alumni

Isaac Asimov (1920–1992), writer

John "the Brooklyn Bullet" Barsha (born Abraham Barshofsky; 1898–1976), American professional football player

Jules Bender (1914–1982), collegiate and professional basketball player

Albert Blaustein (1921–1994), civil rights and human rights lawyer and constitutional consultant

Cy Block (1919–2004), professional Major League Baseball player

Himan Brown (1910–2010), producer of radio and television programs

Anatole Broyard (1920–1990), essayist, literary critic

Emanuel Celler (1888–1981), U.S. Representative for almost 50 years

Aaron Copland (1900–1990), classical composer, composition teacher, writer, and conductor

Howard Cosell (born Howard William Cohen, 1918–1995), television sports journalist and author

Mel Davis (born 1950), professional NBA basketball player

Tommy Davis (1939–2022), Major League Baseball player

I. A. L. Diamond (1920–1988), screenwriter

Martin Dobelle (1906–1986), orthopedic surgeon

Hal Draper (born Harold Dubinsky, 1914–1990), socialist activist and writer

Distinguished faculty

Mickey Fisher (1935–1962), basketball coach made the Final Four every year from 1956 to 1962, coach of the Israeli Men's Olympic basketball team, Rome 1960

James Sullivan (1873–1931), principal (1907–1916), later Director of the YMCA for the American Expeditionary Forces, New York State Historian, and Director of Archives and History