Brooklyn Scenery

...via the vintage wallpaper mural that has lined the hallway in our Windsor Terrace house since the late 50's. I wonder if the former owners, garment industry players, were hit by the same tide of desire for Asian elements as the architects/planners at Bishop Ford were. It seems a little odd that the school was styled, part Catholic, part pagoda, after the aesthetic of a country in which the Bishop Francis X. Ford was martyred in 1952. The Bishop Ford website describes it in more detail:

The Chinese mission of Francis X. Ford is strikingly reflected in the beautiful design of the school. The cross which surmounts the pagoda on our roof is a landmark visible for miles. Red and Black, the colors symbolic of the Chinese artistic tradition and the Maryknoll Fathers, permeate our school. These colors in the chapel, the main lobby, the auditorium, throughout the classrooms, are constant reminders of Bishop Ford and his contributions and good works.

Another interesting bit they include is that a Federal Prison once stood on the site of the school, which is right next to Greenwood Cemetery.