A Life Built in New York
1973Riverdale, Bronx, New YorkEducation

Salanter Akiba Riverdale Academy (SAR Academy)

A school built into Arturo Toscanini's former estate — and challenged in court while it was going up.

From Rita’s list

Rita Bartscherer’s handwritten entry: Riverdale Academy — 1973

No building photograph is currently assigned.

01The story

Why this project matters

Project identity
Verified
Kelly connection
Documented
Masonry scope
Documented

Rita’s list

Rita Bartscherer’s handwritten entry: Riverdale Academy — 1973

Transcription: Riverdale Academy — 1973

Recorded by Rita Bartscherer · Bartscherer family record

Entry

KM-101

Sheet

1 of two

As written

“Riverdale Academy — 1973”

The construction dispute was active in 1973; SAR's original building was formally dedicated on June 23, 1974.

Why it matters

A superb card: a modern block-masonry school was built into Toscanini's former hillside estate while neighbors fought the construction in court.

Historical notes

SAR bought the former Arturo Toscanini estate in 1968. Court records show a lawsuit over construction of the proposed school building in 1973, and the completed academy opened in 1974. Joseph's 1973 entry therefore matches the active construction/legal phase exactly. SAR's 50th-anniversary history states that the original building was formally dedicated on June 23, 1974, after the construction period reflected by Rita's 1973 entry.

Verification notes

Research pass v1.2 — Verified. | v3.6.12 history upgrade: original SAR building formally dedicated June 23, 1974.

02What Kelly did

What Kelly did here

Kelly connection

Documented

Scope confidence

Documented

Block masonry wall surfacing — the visible buff-colored block wall system of the Salanter-Akiba-Riverdale Academy.

03Who built it

The construction team

  1. 01Architect

    Caudill, Rowlett, Scott Associates

  2. 02Masonry

    Kelly Masonry

04What happened

What happened to it

Still standing

Construction date

Construction active 1973; formal dedication June 23, 1974

On the map

655 West 253rd Street, Bronx, NY 10471

Maps / Street View →View on the archive map →
Still standing
This record
Sources ↗Map ↗Suggest an update →

Sources

5 citedOpen →
What this record rests on
  1. 01
    lehman.edu

    Salanter Akiba Riverdale Academy

  2. 02
    case-law.vlex.com

    hillside property owners ass 887438461

  3. 03
    en.wikipedia.org

    Salanter Akiba Riverdale Academy

  4. 04
    usmodernist.org

    PA 1975 12

  5. 05
    sar50celebration.org

    a school with no walls

Know something about this project?

Share a correction, memory, photograph, source or connection to this project. Every submission is reviewed before anything is published.

Add to this record →

Elsewhere in the archive