The school was founded as an all-girls school due in large part to the efforts of , then head of the Board of Education and later acting mayor of New York City. The school is named after the writer Washington Irving. The building in which the school is located was designed by the architect C.B.J. Snyder and built in 1913. The original building is eight stories high, though the extension on 16th Street designed by Walter C. Martin and built in 1938, is eleven stories high. The school had been located on Lafayette Street, but because the student population was growing at a rapid rate, a decision was made to move the school to another location, and land was purchased at 40 Irving Place. The school started out as a branch of Wadleigh High School, known at first as Girls' Technical High School, the first school for girls in the city. In 1913 the name changed to Washington Irving. On September 1986, the school became co-ed. In the period that Hector Xavier Monsegur attended Irving, 55% of the school's students graduated with their classes.
Closure and conversion to campus
The New York City Department of Education announced in December 2011 that WIHS would be one of two high schools to be closed by summer 2015. The school was to be replaced with Success Academy Charter School. Among the reasons for closing include a graduation rate of 48%. Success Academy Charter School planned to open an elementary school in the building in 2013. The site was suggested by the CityDepartment of Education but the decision was not final until 2014. Washington Irving High School officially closed in June 2015 after graduating its last class, resulting in Success Academy taking over its site along with the other high schools.
Incidents
On February 25, 2016, a fire broke out in the building after an electrical explosion, resulting in the campus to be closed for an unspecified amount of time. All students and staff were relocated to another building. On December 5, 2017, a student was arrested and charged for raping another student. The suspect is identified as 18 year-old Jevon Martin while the victim is a 16-year-old girl. The incident took place between the third and fourth floor of a stairwell.
Artwork
One enters the lobby through the main doors, which are opposite a grand decorative fireplace. It features a plaster bas-relief overmantel, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, by sculptor Frances Grimes. Above the lobby's oak-paneled walls are 12 murals by Barry Faulkner depicting the early history of New York. The murals in the auditorium are by Robert Knight Ryland and J. Mortimer Lichtenauer. The murals in the stairwell are by Salvatore Lascari. On the second floor and above, the walls are white, the doors are red, and the floors are black. The exterior is limestone up to the second story, then gray brick trimmed with limestone. In front of the building, at the corner of Irving Place and 17th Street is a bust of Washington Irving by Friedrich Beer, which is featured on the school's ID. The exterior was used in the TV sit-comHead of the Class. The school's auditorium is located in the middle, between the left and the right wings. It is usually accessed only from the lobby, but has seats on the second level. There are many performances held at the auditorium, by students and outside artists.
Student life
Each day students enter the building from East 16th Street, swipe their ID cards, and go through metal detectors while their belongings go through a security X-ray scanner. As per the New York City Schools Chancellor's regulations, MP3 players and some other electronic devices are banned in New York City public schools. In addition, students may no longer enter the building after 10:00 AM.
