Designed by Charles B. J. Snyder in 1898, PS 109 stopped functioning as a public school in the 1990s. A number of years later, it took a community-driven team to convince the city to take over the building and turn it into affordable housing. In 2015, the eighty-nine spaces became available to artists and their families to both live and work. On the main floor, there is a gallery for residents to showcase their art, as well as plenty of room for other cultural activities. El Barrio's Artspace represents a beautiful example of how the history of New York can be recycled and turned into something new.