Architect Adolph Goldberg was born in Poland in about 1897.25 Based on Montague Street in Downtown Brooklyn in the 1920s, when he was designing Tapestry Brick houses in Northeast Flatbush, he later was an architect for Brooklyn public housing projects including the Louis Heaton Pink Houses in East New York, the Glenwood Houses in Flatlands and the Marcy Houses in Williamsburg. He served as president of the Brooklyn chapter of the American Institute of Architects and of the New York State Association of Architects. He was later a partner in the firm of Epstein-Goldberg.

Source: Taylor, Jonathan (2013) “Tapestry Brick Dwellings: The Emergence Of A Residential Type In Brooklyn” (Master’s Thesis, Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, & Preservation, Columbia University), courtesy of the author

Simeon Heller was probably the individual who had the largest impact on the Queens Chamber of Commerce Building Awards, yet remains almost completely unknown today. Heller grew up in Queens and attended architecture school at NYU. He served as jury chair of the Chamber’s Building Awards program from 1948–1952 and seems to have been a driving force in reinvigorating the awards after they were eliminated during the years of World War II. After stepping down as Awards Chair, he continued serving on the jury until his death in 1969 at the age of 62. He was also a past president of the Queens AIA and New York State Association of Architects, among many other civic activities.

He formed a partnership with George J. Meltzer in 1955 and all his award winning buildings after that year were collaborations with Meltzer. Many of his projects, including the majority of his fourteen Queens Chamber-honored buildings (the most of any single architect) have been demolished or largely altered. However, the award-winning house he built for himself and his family still exists in Flushing as do a synagogue and public library.

Sources:

American Architects Directory, First Edition, 1956. Copyright 1956 R. R. Bowker LLC.

American Architects Directory, Second Edition, 1962. Copyright 1962 R. R. Bowker LLC.

“Simeon Heller, an Architect, 62” The New York Times 25 October 1969

Raymond Irrera was president of the Queens AIA from 1946-47 and chair of the Chamber of Commerce Building Awards from 1953-54 . Several of his projects exist in good condition and include several libraries, bank branches and funeral homes.

Herman Jessor’s career was built on designing cooperative housing throughout New York City, including such major developments as Co-op City, Penn South, and Seward Park Houses. As such he had a close relationship with unions who supported this type of housing. The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers funded two of his Queens Chamber Award projects, Electric Industry Center, and Electchester Twin Towers. Rochdale Village, his third award-winning project was funded by the United Housing Foundation.

Sources:

Bagli, Charles V. “Spotlight on Architect’s Work In Wake of a Garage Collapse” The New York Times. 19. Jan. 1999. Web.

“Herman Jessor, 95, New York Architect For Co-op Buildings” The New York Times. 10 Apr. 1999. Web.

Schuman, Tony. “Labor and Housing in New York City: Architect Herman Jessor and the Cooperative Housing Movement”, New Jersey Institute of Technology.

 
This Brooklyn-based firm, composed of the Russian-born Morris Kavy (1898-1984) and Morris Kavovitt, designed many apartment buildings in Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Long Island. 

Sources:

Taylor, Jonathan. “Tapestry Brick Dwellings: The Emergence Of A Residential Type In Brooklyn” Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation. 2013. Courtesy of the author.