Public School No. 211, ca. 1930s.

While most school buildings constructed by the city during the early part of the 20th century were multistory brick structures (with an occasional wood-frame annex building), Public School 211 in Coney Island was different. Built in the 1923, the surrounding neighborhood was still at that point sparse and residential with small, single-story structures. The school building consisted of two one-story wood-frame structures that houses more than 600 students, according to a newspaper report in 1935. The same report discussed the investigation of this school, as well as a number of others, for fire safety issues and unsanitary conditions.

In 1938 the New York Times listed the construction of a new P.S. 211 (to be built at 179th Street in the Bronx) as a Public Works Administration project. The Coney Island school was likely demolished at that time or just after. The Gravesend Houses, the NYCHA buildings that currently occupy that area were built in 1954.