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Spence School Buys Mixed-Use Bldg. Next Door for $10 Million

It’s unclear what the tony K-12 girls school intends to do with its newly acquired property.

| 07 Feb 2025 | 07:35
    The Spence School, a private K-12 women’s school on the Upper East Side, has bought a mixed-use building at 1307-1309 Madison Ave. (pictured above) for $10 million.
    The Spence School, a private K-12 women’s school on the Upper East Side, has bought a mixed-use building at 1307-1309 Madison Ave. (pictured above) for $10 million. ( Photo: Google Maps )
    The Spence School, a K-12 private institution partially located in a nationally landmarked spot at East 93rd Street, is pictured above.
    The Spence School, a K-12 private institution partially located in a nationally landmarked spot at East 93rd Street, is pictured above. ( Photo: Google Maps )

The Spence School, a private K-12 girls institution located between East 90th and East 93rd streets, has bought a nearby mixed-use building on Madison Avenue for $10 million. It’s not clear what will become of the premises, which currently contains residential apartments.

The deed for the sale of 1307-1309 Madison Ave., which was viewed by Our Town and first reported on by Crain’s New York Business, reveals that the transaction was finalized on Jan. 31. An LLC representing the school bought the building from two LLCs, Jouvay Realty and PYML Associates, which are themselves tied to Lee & Associates.

There are a total of seven apartments in the building, as well as a language school and a deli known as the Patrick Murphy Market. Ostensibly, if The Spence School intends on using the property to expand its operations, these residential units and the market may not be long for the world. A spokesperson for the school simply told Crain’s that they are “reviewing the property’s long-term possibilities” and have no “immediate plans.”

One of The Spence School’s main campuses—its K-4 Lower School—is located at 56 E. 93rd St., around the corner from the Madison Avenue building. It’s situated in what used to be William Goadby Loew House, a mansion built for a stockbroker. The building has been listed on the U.S. Registry of Historic Places since 1982.

Tuition for this school year went for a hefty $65,846, according to the school’s website. One in five students receives financial aid in grants that range from $5,000 to $65,188, out of a total annual allocation of $8.1 million. The average financial grant is $49,402.

The Spence School’s other campuses include its combined middle and high-school on East 91st Street, as well as an athletic center on East 90th Street. Its current head of school is Felicia A. Wilks.

The school, which was was founded in a West 48th Street brownstone by Clara Spence in 1892, boasts of a “rigorous liberal arts education.” Its motto “Non scholae sed vitae discimus” is a twist on a Latin phrase by the ancient Stoic philosopher Seneca the Younger, which roughly translates to “We learn not for school, but for life.”

A native of Albany and an alum of the Madison Square Theatre, Spence strongly emphasized the performing arts as part of the school’s early curriculum, as well as brought students on what were referred to as “sightseeing tours with Ms. Spence.” Spence served as the school’s headmistress for a total of 31 years, when she was succeeded by Charlotte Sanford Baker.

A variety of political and cultural titans visited the school over the years, the school’s website notes: Eleanor Roosevelt, Helen Keller, the novelist Edith Wharton, Booker T. Washington, and George Washington Carver. Isadora Duncan, the dance pioneer, was once hired by Spence to teach there.