Adventures into that Mysterious Dome
Some people find the cupola or dome atop the huge brick building on Spring Road to be rather mysterious. It’s been there since the structure went up in 1938 and was a distinctive feature of Robert K. Toaz Junior High School, which operated at the site from 1939 to 1982.
When Touro Law School rented the building and later bought it, the dome stayed. Today the Good News Church is the owner, and that organization scrapped off flaking paint and applied a fresh white coat to the cupola.
Buried in the archives of Huntington’s School Heritage Museum is a one page report submitted by Annetta vander Marel, a Toaz student. She summoned the courage to ascend into the dome and wrote about her trip there for a 1950 issue of the school paper, The Spotlight.
Ms. vander Marel termed her exploration an “excursion into the white mysterious dome atop the Toaz auditorium.” The building itself is an imposing one. The depression-era Public Works Administration began the project on January 8, 1938, the cornerstone was laid on May 7, 1938 and general construction work was completed in late November 1938, nearly five months early. The structure cost $748,957.33. It was dedicated on August 23, 1939 during an 8:30 p.m. public ceremony. The first day of classes was September 5, 1939. A large three story wing was added in 1970, expanding the building in size to nearly 120,000 square feet.
In her 1950 report Ms. vander Marel wrote:
“Dominating the skyline one beholds the huge heighty dome, the highest point of Toaz; the locked doors beyond which few have traveled. I ventured with a kindly janitor up the staircase leading to the auditorium balcony, into the projector room – always locked to Toaz students. Further our quest continues up a straight, high janitor’s ladder, [which] steps to a musty, dark, unpainted compartment, approximately 8’ x 8’, which provided another ladder.
“Up the other ladder and we were in the dome itself! Its shiny white appearance observed from the ground was even more vivid, but inside the dome was a different matter. It, like the former compartment was unpainted, dull, except for the crudely painted letters announcing the fact that this, the highest point of Toaz, had been painted in 1942.
“The brilliant landscape viewed from the dome, however, made up for any lacking factor in the interior of the dome. From this height of 60 feet, equivalent of a six story building, one beholds Huntington Harbor and beyond that Long Island Sound. Other views such as Lloyd Harbor, Halesite, Town of Huntington and Huntington Station are just as striking.
“We leave the locale now until some day when another person becomes curious about the white dome atop Toaz.”
Ms. vander Marel passed away in 1970.
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