NYC Converts Brooklyn Firehouse Into New Music School

COBBLE HILL— A long-vacant Cobble Hill firehouse will soon trade fire trucks for violins, as the City begins a $17.8 million renovation to create a permanent home for the Noel Pointer Foundation and its music school.

The 6,000-square-foot building at 299 DeGraw St., built in 1857, will become a new center for music education serving young people from historically underserved communities.

Construction began with a groundbreaking ceremony and is expected to finish in fall 2028.

The Noel Pointer Foundation, a nonprofit founded in 1995 in memory of Grammy-nominated violinist Noel Pointer, will use the building to expand its music programs for children ages 3 to 18.

For more than three decades, the foundation has operated from schools, rented facilities and the home of its executive director, Chinita Pointer, Noel Pointer's widow.

The new headquarters will give the organization a dedicated location for lessons, performances and community programs while allowing it to expand its after-school, Saturday and summer offerings.

“This building is more than bricks and mortar," Pointer said. "It’s a promise to the next generation that music, opportunity and hope will always have a place in our community."

The organization has reached more than 39,000 New York City public school students through string music instruction.

It currently operates programs in nearly 50 Title I schools and day care centers across the five boroughs, serving more than 2,000 children each year.

Students can learn violin, viola, cello, double bass, guitar, piano, voice, composition and DJ skills.

Programs also include ensembles, private coaching, master classes, audition preparation and summer and Saturday classes.

The foundation also helps students prepare for admission to specialized high schools, conservatories and colleges.

The project, led by the New York City Department of Design and Construction for the Department of Cultural Affairs, will restore the historic firehouse while adding classrooms, rehearsal and recording spaces and facilities designed for students with disabilities.

Workers will restore the building's brick and terra-cotta facade and replace the existing garage doors with glass windows, bringing more daylight into the former firehouse.

Inside, the renovation will add soundproofed lesson rooms, a recording studio, music library, gallery, offices and storage.

An ensemble room will use wood ceilings and acoustic wall panels to control sound.

The project also includes a courtyard for community programming, an elevator serving all three floors and an accessible reception area.

Workers will excavate and finish the cellar to create additional rehearsal and recording space. New mechanical, electrical, plumbing, technology and security systems will update the 169-year-old building.

The City is funding the $17.8 million renovation with support from the New York City Council and Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, among other public partners.

The project team includes MBB Architects and A.P.N. Construction Corp.