Designed in 1894 by Department of School Buildings superintendent C.B.J Snyder, the five-story red brick building of Public School 122 served the local community for more than eight decades. Abandoned in 1976, the school building was taken over by a "bunch of scrappy [..] artists" in the late 1970s. Visual artists used classrooms as studios, while choreographers held rehearsals and workshops in the cafeteria. In 1980 Performance Space 122 (or appropriately, P.S. 122) was officially founded here. The non-profit arts organization has become one of the longest standing venues dedicated to contemporary performance art in New York City.

For more than two decades local performance troupes staged pieces in the rooms created for the school, working around architectural columns and inappropriate-for-dancing floors. In 2005 the venue was awarded funds as part of a $20 million grant from the Carnegie Corporation and closed in 2011 for the work. The spaces in the original building were brought up to code and renovated for their current use, while the architect designed an addition at the rear of the building. With four non-profits occupying the building, including the renamed Performance Space New York, the venue saw programming again starting in spring of 2018. While the occupants were very involved in the renovation and reconfiguring work, they did request that the architects "don’t make it too nice—keep the grit."