Erasmus High School
Brooklyn, NY
Erasmus Hall High School in Flatbush, Brooklyn is named for Dutch scholar Desiderius Erasmus. The school consists of four Collegiate Gothic buildings that were designed by NYC schools architect C.B.J. Snyder and built between 1903 and 1940. The four buildings form a quadrangle around a campus green that contains the original 1786 wooden school building. The academy's founders included Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr, John Jay and George Clinton. The list of notable alumni is long and varied and includes Mae West, Neil Diamond, Bobby Fischer, Stephanie Mills and Barbara Streisand. When I was there in 2006 we played in what appeared to be an old chapel for an inattentive audience. No dressing rooms or lights. Difficult parking.