2 Hurt In Fire At NYC's Oldest High School Building In Bed-Stuy: FDNY

BED-STUY, BROOKLYN — Two people were sent to the hospital after a fire in a historic school building in Bed-Stuy on Tuesday, according to the FDNY.

The blaze broke out around 7:20 p.m. in the fourth floor of the 475 Nostrand Ave. building, which takes up an entire block between Halsey and Macon streets and was once home to the historic Girls High School, according to fire officials and city records.

Around 60 firefighters brought the blaze under control just after 8 p.m., the FDNY said.

Two people were sent to the hospital with minor injuries, according to the department.

The Nostrand Avenue building — which is a city landmark — is now home to the Brooklyn Adult Learning Center. Classes at the learning center have been moved to another building until the Nostrand Avenue headquarters is cleared for their return, city education officials told Patch.

The historic building was one of the first public secondary schools in New York City when it opened as Girls High School in 1886 and is still known as "the oldest surviving high school building that was designed to be a secondary school in New York City," according to a history from the Brooklyn Public Library and Landmarks Preservation Commission.

The building was designed by James W. Naughton, the Brooklyn Board of Education's Superintendent of Buildings at the time, according to LPC. Naughton, originally from Ireland, also designed the historic Boys' High School nearby on Marcy Avenue, which opened in 1892.

"These two institutions are the first public secondary schools in New York City, and they served as the prototypes for the first high schools built later in Manhattan," the historians wrote.

The Nostrand Avenue building had been under renovation as recently as last summer, when a Google Maps image shows it covered in netting and surrounded by sidewalk sheds, photos show. Patch has reached out to the Department of Education for more information about the renovation.

A call to the Brooklyn Adult Learning Center went unanswered Wednesday morning.