The school was established and run by the Grand Central Art Galleries, an artists' cooperative founded by Sargent, Greacen, Clark, and others in 1922.

[2] The school was directed by Greacen, Sargent and Daniel Chester French and occupied 7,000 square feet (650 m2) on the seventh floor[3] of the east wing of the Grand Central Terminal in New York City.

Press accounts of the school's opening reception mentioned the following instructors: Greacen, George Pearse Ennis, sculptor Chester Beach, muralists Ezra Winter and Dean Cornwell, the illustrator and costume designer Helen Dryden, Nicolai Fechin, Julian Bowes and George Elmer Browne.

Another instructor was Harvey Dunn, whose comments were captured by a student during one five-hour class session and were published in 1934 in a slim volume titled An Evening in the Classroom.

The school has no relationship to the current Grand Central Academy of Art, despite the similarities in name and a shared humanist perspective.