Public School 1, ca. 1939.

21st Street, at the northeast corner of 46th Road, showing Public School No. 1. The view is from Jackson Avenue (tracks) across a triangular area occupied by a gasoline station. 21st Street is on the left.

The First Ward School was built in 1892 in a Romanesque Revival style rendered in red brick and terra cotta. The school which originally served the independent Long Island City had 35 classrooms. The school closed in 1963 due to underenrollment. Over the last century there were numerous alterations to the building: in 1904 a small addition and in the 1970s the clock and bell tower at the southwest corner was removed.

The original MoMA P.S. 1 began in 1971 as the Institute for Art and Urban Resources Inc. In 1976 this organization, which aimed to use underutilized and abandoned spaces across New York City as exhibit spaces, opened their first major exhibit in the old school building. In 2000 the organization then called P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center merged with MoMA to create the current museum.