American Hospital Supply Corporation

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Address: 40-05 168th Street
Neighborhood: Flushing
Architect:  Jacob Berman (engineer)
Year: 1951
Current Status: Extant
Award:  Honorable Mention
Typology:  Commercial Building

The American Hospital Supply Corporation building presents an intriguing public face. The facade of the building gives the impression of a modern take on a Gothic Revival gatehouse with a metal gated entrance portico above of which is placed a prominent bow window. The roofline of the central section ends in a peaked roof and the whole section is faced in concrete made to look like stone. Extending from the entrance are two wings covered in a patterned brick face above a stone veneer. The building then topped by an angled roof covered in slate. All of this presents an unusually picturesque appearance, marred only by the replacement windows which used to be multi-paned. But look at the side elevation and one realizes the building is essentially a simple brick box. The award citation notes that it was designed by an engineer not an architect, which could account for the largely utilitarian design behind the storybook entrance.