Architect Recalls Design and Construction of Huntington El
Alfred DiGiacomo might be 86 years old, but he vividly recalls the design and construction of Huntington Elementary School more than four decades ago. That’s no surprise since the building is one of the proudest achievements of his long architectural career.
Mr. DiGiacomo now resides in Ithaca, but he maintains a connection to the Huntington community. After all, he is a Huntington High School alumnus (Class of 1941) and he grew up and attended elementary school here, too. He contacted the district via e-mail last fall when a former classmate sent him an article about the renaming of Huntington Intermediate School (the successor to Huntington El) in honor of longtime teacher, principal and museum curator Jack Abrams.
A long distance interview ensued and resulted in Mr. DiGiacomo sharing a lengthy recollection of his work in the 1960’s, which continues to impact students, teachers, parents and the community at-large.
A call from then Huntington School Board member Anita Messinger on a 1967 summer day alerted Mr. DiGiacomo to the district’s interest in finding an architectural firm to design a new elementary school to replace the aging Roosevelt School on Lowndes Ave.
“A mutual friend, aware of my professional background, had referred her to me to obtain information regarding architects noted for designing schools,” Mr. DiGiacomo said. “I met with the board member and provided the names of several architectural firms that fit, in my opinion, the criterion the board provided. As our conversation ended, I said, ‘By the way, my firm also designs schools.’ In Nov. 1966, the Huntington School Board invited my firm to be interviewed for the job of designing the new school. We were later awarded the contract subject to approval of the project by the voters.”
After district residents approved construction of the new building, Mr. DiGiacomo was placed in charge of the design and management of the project. “The job entailed two basic aspects,” he recalled. “The first part of the job involved the demolition and removal of Roosevelt School. The federal Urban Renewal Agency purchased the Roosevelt School building for $465,000 with the proviso that the agency would demolish the building and clear the site. It was necessary for me to develop specifications that detailed our requirements for the Urban Renewal Agency to follow when in Feb. 1967 Roosevelt School was closed.”
Roosevelt was, in fact, demolished by the Urban Renewal Agency, which also cleared the three acre site. “To the three acres already available, an additional 10 acres were transferred to the district by the Town of Huntington,” Mr. DiGiacomo said. The extra acreage was largely acquired through the use of eminent domain proceedings.
“With the site now totaling 13 acres, there would be sufficient land to build the thousand pupil school and to provide adequate playgrounds and parking,” Mr. DiGiacomo said. “The second part required the creation of plans and the implementation of those plans to build both a school and a community center. On May 16, 1967 I met with the principal of Woodhull School, Mr. Fitzgerald and various staff members for suggestions for the new building. With this information as well as a site survey we were able to proceed with the design of the building.”
Mr. DiGiacomo said the site “was a difficult one with the wedge shape at the intersection of Lowndes and Tower Streets and the severe change in grade from Lowndes to Tower Street. I was able to arrange the various program elements to suit the site and developed the schematic design of the school building as well as for the adjacent community building. I also researched the construction cost of recently constructed school buildings and added a factor for cost increases and prepared the budget for the building costs at a total cost of $2,435,000. The total appropriation for the project was $2,900,000. The floor area is 106,500 Sq. Ft. for 1,026 pupils.”
Mr. DiGiacomo was born Nov. 29, 1922 in Huntington Station. He lived on Railroad Street and began kindergarten in Jan. 1928 at Roosevelt School. In Jan. 1928, he graduated from Roosevelt’s eighth grade and headed off to Huntington High School, then located on Main Street in what is now Town Hall.
In May 1939 Mr. DiGiacomo landed a part-time job at Sarrows Market in Huntington as a stock clerk. After graduating from high school in Jan. 1941 he began working full-time at Sarrows and worked his way up to dairy manager in 1942.
In Nov. 1942, he enlisted in the U.S. Army and was assigned to the Signal Corps and trained as a telephone operator. He sailed to England in Oct. 1943 and was assigned to the 926 Signal Battalion, which provided communications for the Ninth Tactical Air Command of the Ninth Air Force both before and after the D-Day invasion of Normandy, France.
“The Ninth TAC provided air support to the tanks and infantry from Normandy to the Elbe Rive in Germany,” Mr. DiGiacomo said. “After the war ended in Europe, I returned home in Nov. 1945. In Feb. 1946, I attended Mondell Institute where I studied architectural drafting. After graduation, I worked for Al Graesser in Huntington. One of the projects worked on there was the addition to Nathan Hale School. In 1947, I went to work for James Van Alst in Centerport. Mr. Van Alst’s company primarily designed school buildings. In 1959, I took and passed the five day New York State Registered Architect’s examination. In the fall of that year, I joined, as an associate, the architectural firm of Carl B. Stoye, located in Sayville. The first projects that I designed and managed were Islip High School, four Suffolk County Police precincts and a savings bank. All of these designs were bestowed architectural awards. Islip High School received First Prize.”
Mr. DiGiacomo’s schematic plans and budget for the Huntington Elementary School project were approved by trustees at a meeting on Feb. 16, 1968. “Four days later, I traveled to Albany with these plans where I reviewed them with the State Education Department and received their approval,” he said. “We then prepared small scale floor plans of the school and the community building as well as the architectural renderings of the buildings for the voter’s brochure for the school district.”
On Mar. 21, 1968, Huntington School District residents approved construction of the new school but rejected the community center. “We then went proceeded with the preparation of the preliminary drawings, retained and worked with our consultants for plumbing, heating, electrical, structural, landscaping and site work,” Mr. DiGiacomo said. “As the work progressed, I met with [Superintendent] Dr. [Charles] St Clair and the School Board at various times. Once the preliminary documents were approved, we prepared the final bid documents. I supervised the preparation of the plans, the details of construction, and the exterior and interior designs. In consultation with my structural engineer I came up with the structural design of the building utilizing structural steel construction on the front section of the building and wall bearing construction for the classroom wing.”
Mr. DiGiacomo said that all of the classrooms he designed were based on a so-called four-foot module. “The same module applied to the windows,” he said. “In order to keep the windows to the requested three-foot width, I added a one foot panel on one side. This was subdivided by placing a one foot square colored panel at alternating locations in each window and colored Plexiglas glazing in the lobby and connecting corridor. I also designed the auditorium acoustical treatment and the kitchen layout and equipment and wrote the construction specifications for general construction and reviewed the consultant’s specifications as well.”
Huntington School Board members approved the nearly completed final plans for the building on Feb. 28, 1968 and the after the final documents were completed on Mar. 18, Mr. DiGiacomo traveled to Albany again and received SED approval. After bid documents were printed, the project went out for public bidding.
E.W. Howell (general construction), South Bay Merit (plumbing), Hassett
Thermo Corp. (heating) and P.J. Panzeca Inc. (electrical) were awarded contracts as the low bidders. The next day the electrical contractor came to Mr. DiGiacomo’s office and said he “had forgotten to include $45,000, for the lighting fixtures,” the architect recalled. “I tried to convince him that, with an error like that, he had the legal right to withdraw his bid. He informed [me] that family honor prevented him from withdrawing and that he would honor his bid.”
The contracts were awarded to the low bidders on May 29, 1968 at a cost for the building of $2,240,165, below Mr. DiGiacomo’s initial estimate of $2,435,000.
“The bidders were required to submit the names of their subcontractors, for my approval, which I reviewed and in most cases approved,” Mr. DiGiacomo said. “I also reviewed and approved or corrected for resubmission their shop drawings, as well as their submission of materials, and fixtures. In addition, I prepared color schemes for the various spaces and the seating in the auditorium.”
Mr. DiGiacomo said he “personally supervised the construction by visiting the job site many times.” At the time, he lived nearby on Olive Street in Huntington Station, so he could also visit the construction site after hours. “I held weekly job meetings with the contactors – some of which were quite heated,” he recalled.
The project included problems with one contractor blaming another for holding up the job. Eventually, the electrical work was taken over by another contractor, who completed the job. “The building was substantially completed by Sept. 1969,” Mr. DiGiacomo said.
Once Huntington Elementary School opened, students poured in from Robert K. Toaz Junior High School, which was temporarily closed for renovations and an addition.
Ironically, Mr. DiGiacomo’s own children never attended Huntington El. They were bussed to Flower Hill School on the other side of town. The architect went to work on the Toaz project for the district after it was approved by voters on Oct. 30, 1968.
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