Spence's Expansion Takes Shape: Here's What's Proposed

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — Ahead of the new school year, the Spence School is doing a group project of its own.

The school's administrators, as well as their team of planners from MBB Architects, have revealed their proposal to expand its Upper East Side footprint by connecting two additional Upper East Side row houses to its existing lower school on Madison Avenue and East 93rd Street.

Subscribe

The project includes a gut renovation of two row houses at 1307 and 1309 Madison Ave., adding an extra story for classrooms, and replacing aging mechanical systems with a new geothermal one.

With the construction, the school aims to connect the rowhouses to its landmarked lower school building located at 56 East 93rd St.

"When we saw these two row homes come on the market in 2025, we saw a generational opportunity to solve some of our academic needs and our operational needs," Felicia Wilks, the head of school at Spence, said.

As part of the renovation, the ground-level storefront in the townhouses — which housed Patrick Murphy's Market for 28 years before it closed in November — will be removed.

All of the buildings in this equation are protected landmarks, meaning any changes must be approved by the city.

The school has proposed threading a glass walkway between the two buildings to connect the dots.

The construction will also address space constraints, add dedicated lab space for STEM learning, and build a rooftop play area and ball cage, Wilks said.

"Our current STEM lab is half of a classroom, so we often have our students trying their robots out in the lobby," Wilks said.

The expansion will also reunite its fifth-grade classrooms with the rest of its lower school, Wilks said.

Currently, the fifth graders are based in the school's middle and upper school grounds, on East 91st Street near Madison Avenue.

"We're eager to follow the research, which suggests that fifth grades are best suited in lower schools," Wilks said.

Community Board 8's Landmarks Committee meeting saw opposition to the project from two neighborhood advocacy groups, according to East Side Feed.

East Side Feed reported that a Civitas representative argued the plan "inflicts permanent harm on street-level vitality" by removing the ground-level storefront, and a representative from Carnegie Hill Neighbors said changing the building's height and removing its pediment would set a bad precedent.

At the Landmarks Preservation Commission hearing on July 28, commissioners voted to close the record without coming to a decision.

When this happens, applicants typically return with revised plans for another public hearing, which has not been set yet.

For questions, email Miranda.Levingston@Patch.com.