In the mid-1930s, after its original high school that was located on Prospect Street (now a City park) burned down, a new one was built on Howard Avenue. This is notable in that the building was designed by William Lescaze, one of the pioneers of modernism in American architecture. When it opened in 1936, it was one of the first "modern" high school buildings in the country. The former high school became Ansonia Middle School in 1999 when a new Ansonia High School was built at 20 Pulaski Highway in the Hilltop section of the city.