It was built in 1879 for the exclusive use of African-American students, and although the school closed in 1934, the building is the only one of its kind still standing in Brooklyn.

The Brooklyn Board of Education renamed it "Colored School #3" and continued to run it while pursuing an overall policy of segregated education, even after the State of New York passed a law ostensibly desegregating the state's schools in 1873.

In 1882, Seth Low, the new mayor of Brooklyn and a reformer, appointed Phillip A.

69 ceased to exist as an independent entity due to the declining African-American population of the neighborhood.

In 1982 the city sold the property, and in 1983 it was purchased by a sculptor, James O. Clark, for use as a private family residence and studio.