Garden City residents overwhelmingly defeated Wednesday a referendum that would have called for the demolition of St. Paul's School, once one of the nation's top prep schools, according to an article in today's edition of Newsday by Bart Jones.

The nonbinding referendum, which failed by a vote of 3,290-1,120, asked voters if the village trustees should be authorized to float bonds for up to $3.75 million to knock down the 128-year-old High Victorian Gothic building, one of Long Island's grandest structures in one of Long Island's richest communities.

Last week, demolition advanced on the former Herbert Swope mansion on the northwest tip of Sands Point, Long Island, an estate mythically associated with "The Great Gatsby" book by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

The AIA Architectural Guide to Nassau and Suffolk Counties describes the school building as having "poly-chromatic voussoir arched windows, elaborate cast-iron balustrades, and Dorchester stone trim." The building was selected in 2003 by the Preservation League of New York State as one of its "Seven to Save" endangered properties.

A January 15, 2010 article from Garden City by Cara Buckley in The New York Times said that "a storybook magic hangs about St. Paul's School, a 130-year-old brick palace that seems caught in an evil spell, inching toward a tragic end while ripping this affluent Long Island suburb apart."

"The school stands four stories tall, all red brick, spires and gargoyles, topped by a pitched slate roof and lined with windows hugged by keystones. It looks like the kind of place young Jane Eyres or Harry Potters might race through, and thousands of students did, from the early 1880s until it closed in 1991. But now, nearly two decades after Garden City bought St. Paul's and its surrounding athletic fields, the village is considering tearing it down. The proposal is not a result of a lack of affection for the High Victorian Gothic behemoth, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places - the village illuminates St. Paul's at night with spotlights, and dressed it with an outsize Christmas wreath. The people of Garden City just cannot agree what to do with it," the article said.

"Preservationists say the imbroglio underscores just how vulnerable old buildings can be in the suburbs," the article continued, adding that "individual municipalities hold the primary power in designating landmarks - the federal and state governments play a limited role - and St. Paul's has virtually no protection because Garden City has no landmark ordinances."

Founded by the Alexander Turney Stewart in 1869, Garden City was upscale from the start, but the article noted that the elegant village has already lost several historic buildings including the palatial Garden City Hotel, built by McKim, Mead & White, and St. Mary's School, for girls, was demolished in 2001 after a long vacancy and a fire.

"People thought it would be different with St. Paul's, which was built by Mr. Stewart's widow in his honor. The village came to own it in 1993," the article said, "as part of a prized parcel of 48 acres it bought from the Episcopal Diocese of Long Island for $7.25 million. The chief draw was the land's vast expanse of athletic fields, and a mayor's committee was formed to figure out how best to use St. Paul's. Then the arguments began. The building needed work. Leaks had riven the slate roof, interior mantelpieces had toppled and plaster chunks had crumbled in its stately halls and stained-glass-lined chapel. Restoration estimates proffered by the village - and contested by its opponents - ran into the tens of millions of dollars, which some village leaders felt taxpayers would not or should not shoulder. Public uses for the building - moving the library there, or the town hall, or a high school - were abandoned by village leaders in favor of possible private uses."