Historic Barn Restored at Soundview Prep School
Students, faculty and Yorktown officials last week celebrated the recent renovations of an historic barn that will be used for a lunch room and assembly hall at Soundview Preparatory School.
“I’m so thrilled when you do something like this it’s a preservation of our local history,” Yorktown Supervisor Michael Grace said before he cut the ceremonial ribbon.
Soundview Preparatory School, located on Underhill Avenue, is an independent day school for grades 6-12. Founded in 1989 in Mount Kisco, the school has about 75 students from Westchester, Putnam, Rockland, New York City and Fairfield County in Connecticut. The average class size is seven students.
Headmaster W. Glyn Hearn said school officials strived to retain the historical structure of the barn during the six months of planning and construction. The work was completed by KG&D Architects of Mount Kisco and MJC Construction of Yorktown.
“We’ve kept the integrity of the barn intact,” Hearn said. “This was central to the Underhill Farm and is part of the history of Yorktown. This is where they did a lot of the milking.”
“It was a farming community,” added Grace, mentioning the 13-acre campus was also once utilized by Beaver Conference Farm. “This area is incredibly rich in history.”
Senior Juliette Carey of Pleasantville said the restored barn enhances what she believes is already the best school.
“There’s no other school like this school,” Carey said. “As a school, it’s like Heaven on Earth. Finding Soundview as a school is like a home away from home. I felt at my last high school as a number. Soundview is so different. Here everybody is so different. Ironically enough we all fit in.”
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