# Allen-Stevenson School

The Allen-Stevenson School is a private boys school for kindergarten through 8th grade in New York City. It opened in 1883 and has been as its present location since 1924.

## History

The Allen School was founded in 1883 by Francis Bellows Allen at a home on Fifth Avenue and 57th Street. Its first class enrolled only three boys. In 1885, the school moved to rented rooms at Madison Avenue and 44th Street with an enrollment of 20 boys. In 1904, Mr. Allen met Robert Alston Stevenson, a tutor, who by chance had taken a room at 509 Fifth Avenue, where the School was then located. In 1904, Mr. Allen and Mr. Stevenson joined forces and then moved to 50 East 57th Street with 100 students. By 1918 enrollment exceeded 200. The School published its first newspaper, The Spotlight, and introduced an exercise program and team sports.
In 1924, the School purchased two brownstones for a new schoolhouse and moved to its present location on the Upper East Side. In 1939, Mr. Allen retired at the age of 80, after 56 years of service. In 1947, Mr. Stevenson retired after 43 years of service. His son, Robert "Huck" Alston Stevenson Jr., who had taught at the School, succeeded him as Headmaster.
In 1950, Joseph C. Rennard became Headmaster of Allen-Stevenson and served for nine years. The School introduced team sports at Randall's Island and required boys to wear navy blue blazers and gray flannel pants. In 1959, Henry Dyer Tiffany Jr. became Headmaster until 1974. Under his leadership, a modern science lab and a paneled library, a gift from the Bell family, were added.
Allen-Stevenson's school song was composed by Rolande Maxwell Young in 1968, the year she joined the A-S faculty as a lower-school music teacher.
In 1974, Desmond Cole (previously the head of UNIS) became Headmaster and served in that capacity for 16 years. During his tenure, he created the Middle School division.
In 1983, The Allen-Stevenson School celebrated its first 100 years and published The Allen-Stevenson Centennial Album. Around that time an East 77th Street addition, designed by A-S parent Alfredo De Vido, was built onto the school.
In 1990, the Board of Trustees appointed David Trower as Allen-Stevenson's seventh Headmaster. In 2001, Allen-Stevenson launched its first website to improve communication about the School.
In 2007, a total renovation-expansion of the school interior was completed, which preserved the school's Classical Revival brick and Victorian brownstone facades according to New York Landmarks Preservation Commission guidelines for the Upper East Side Historic District.
In 2008, the school completed a year-long celebration of its 125th anniversary. The Board of Trustees approved Allen-Stevenson and Its Community, a policy statement about inclusion and community life.
In 2009, Allen-Stevenson was twice recognized for its work on energy and the environment, first with a coveted Energy Star rating by the U.S. Department of Energy, and then by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) for LEED Gold Certification for Existing Buildings (EB). This made Allen-Stevenson the very first elementary school in the United States to achieve LEED-EB Gold status.
In 2015, Allen-Stevenson filed an application to New York City's Board of Standards and Appeals to build two new buildings behind the facades of existing brownstones for expansion of classroom, arts and athletics space, and cap them with an 18-foot rooftop greenhouse.

## Athletics

Fall - Soccer, Flag Football, Cross Country, and Intramurals
Winter - Basketball, Wrestling, and Intramurals
Spring - Baseball, Lacrosse, Track, and Intramurals
There is also a wellness program.

## Arts

Allen-Stevenson offers art, shop, music and theatre programs for grades K-8. These include Art and Shop, Orchestra, Chorus, and Technical Theatre programs. A key part of their theater program, is the annual Gilbert and Sullivan musical performed by members of the sixth through ninth grades. The musical in question is alternated, and potential options include: H.M.S. Pinafore, Iolanthe, and Pirates of Penzance.

## Headmasters

* Francis Bellows Allen (d. November 3, 1952) - 1883–1939, joins with Mr. Stevenson in 1904
* Robert Alston Stevenson - 1904–1947, becomes full-time Headmaster after Mr. Allen leaves in 1939
* Robert "Huck" Alston Stevenson Jr. - 1947–1949, son of Robert A. Stevenson Sr., takes over when his father retires after 43 years.
* From 1949 to 1950, Cesidio Ruel Simboli Ph.D. fills in as acting Headmaster while another one is being selected. He appears as "Acting Headmaster" in the 1950 yearbook.
* Joseph C. Rennard - 1950–1959, introduces navy blazers and gray flannel pants.
* Henry Dyer Tiffany Jr. (b. 1910, d. 1994) - 1959–1974, adds modern science lab and the paneled Bell Library to the school.
* Desmond Francis Patrick Cole (b. 1924, d. 2008) - 1974–1990, expands the science program, introduces micro-computers, and creates the Middle School division.
* David Ross Trower - 1990–2022, appointed by the board of trustees.
* Duncan Lyon - 2022–present

## Notable alumni

* Dan Abrams - Class of 1981 - Television host, legal commentator
* Jeremy Ben-Ami - Class of 1977 - Executive Director of J Street
* Peter Benchley - Class of 1954 - Author of Jaws, son of humorist and children's book author Nathaniel Benchley, grandson of humorist Robert Benchley
* Bill Block - Class of 1968 - Founder and CEO of QED International, a leading independent motion picture production, financing and sales distributions company
* Gerald Warner Brace (1901–1978) - Writer, educator, sailor, boatbuilder
* Jonathan Bush - Class of 1984 - co-founder/Chief Executive Officer of athenahealth, nephew of former U.S. President George H. W. Bush.
* Frank Brunckhorst - Class of 1978 - chairman, Boar's Head Provision Company
* Michael Douglas - Class of 1959 - Actor and film producer; won Academy Awards for Best Picture for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) and for Best Actor in Wall Street (1987); received American Film Institute Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009
* Michael Eisner - Class of 1957 - CEO of The Walt Disney Company from 1984 until 2005
* Max Esterson - Class of 2017 - Professional racing driver competing in the FIA Formula F3 Champtionship for Jenzer Motorsports.
* Charles Evans Jr. - Class of 1977 - Film producer and documentary film director; produced Johnny Depp's first directorial effort, The Brave (1997); co-produced Martin Scorsese's Howard Hughes biopic The Aviator (2004)
* Andy Heyward - Class of 1964 - chairman and CEO of DIC Entertainment, was the co-creator of Inspector Gadget as a writer for Hanna-Barbera in the early 1970s
* Jeffrey Hollender - Class of 1970 - Co-founder and CEO of Seventh Generation Inc
* Charles Horman - Class of 1957 - Journalist, victim of the Chilean coup of 1973
* Honorable Pierre N. Leval - Class of 1951 - US Court of Appeals, Second Circuit
* James MacArthur - Class of 1952 - Actor, best known for the role of Danno Williams in Hawaii Five-O
* John Negroponte - Class of 1953 - Diplomat, lecturer in international affairs at Yale University's MacMillan Center, former U.S. Deputy Secretary of State and first-ever Director of National Intelligence
* Richard C. Perry - Class of 1969 - Hedge fund investor and current owner of Barneys New York
* Philip Proctor - Class of 1955 - Actor and member of The Firesign Theater
* Richard Thomas - Class of 1966 - Actor, best known for playing John-Boy in The Waltons
* Max Brockman - Class of 2003 - Writer for the television series "Girls"
* Luis Ubinas - Class of 1978 - Former director of the Ford Foundation
* Roberto Mangabeira Unger - Class of 1961 - Philosopher and politician
* Christopher Weaver - Class of 1966 - Founder of Bethesda Softworks
* Chris Weitz - Class of 1984 - Film producer, writer, director and actor; co-directed American Pie and About a Boy with brother Paul (below); they are sons of actress Susan Kohner
* Paul Weitz - Class of 1980 - Film producer, writer, director; screenwriter for Antz
* Norval White - Class of 1940 - Architect, architectural historian, best known for authoring the AIA Guide to New York City
* David Yazbek - Class of 1975 - Emmy-winning writer, musician, composer, and lyricist; wrote the songs for the Broadway musicals The Full Monty (2000), Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (2005), and The Band's Visit (2018)

## Notable faculty

* Stanley D. Gauger (1925–2012), director of the music department and orchestra, 1948–1986.
* Josh Harris (born 1964), vice president and treasurer in the early 2010s, co-founder of Apollo Global Management and owner of several sports teams.
* Donald Judd (1928–1994), Minimalist artist, taught art at Allen-Stevenson from 1957 to 1961.
* Paul Kellogg, Assistant Headmaster and Head of the Lower School, 1967–1975; General and artistic director of the New York City Opera, 1996–2006.
* Robelyn Schrade-James (1954–2014), music teacher, pianist, performed at the 1964 New York World's Fair representing Steinway & Sons at age 10, also performed at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall.
* Rolande Schrade (1927–2015), music teacher, 1958–1989, composer and pianist.

## Allen-Stevenson in the news

* Allen-Stevenson Gymnastics - 1911
* Allen-Stevenson Boxing Matches - 1912
* Mr. Cole refuses to close Allen-Stevenson during the Blizzard of 1978
* Eighty members of the Allen-Stevenson School Orchestra, including then-Vice President George H. W. Bush's nephew Jonathan Bush Jr., perform at the White House on an unexpectedly rainy day in 1984, to kick off the White House Visitors Concert Series.
* A story in The New Yorker about Allen-Stevenson and dances.
* A legal battle being waged that could have a major impact on how community facilities - schools, churches and doctors' offices - are built in New York City's residential neighborhoods - 1987
* Parents Protesting the End of Standardized Testing at Private Schools
* An article about private school tuition

## Affiliated organizations

* New York State Association of Independent Schools
* International Boys' School Coalition