The school at 2427 MLK Jr Avenue is a three-story brick building with stone trim, in the Italian Renaissance style.
It was built in 1901 as the James G. Birney Elementary School (the original building for that school was built in 1889 and was adjacent to the new building. It was torn down in 1914). In 1962, the school was renamed Nichols Elementary, in honor of the original name of the street before it became MLK Jr Avenue. It was closed in the late 1980’s. In 2005, it was renovated and became the home of the Thurgood Marshall Academy, a public charter school.