Fresh Meadows Branch – The Queens Borough Public Library

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Address: 193-20 Horace Harding Expressway
Neighborhood: Fresh Meadows
Architect:  Charles B. Ferris Associates and G. Harmon Gurney
Year: 1958
Current Status: Extant
Award:  Bronze Plaque for Public Buildings
Typology:  Public Building

The Fresh Meadows Library is just one small component of the massive Fresh Meadows housing development. Created by NY Life in 1946 on the site of the Fresh Meadows Country Club, the complex includes more than 3,000 apartments and an extensive retail center, one of the first of its kind. Fresh Meadows as a whole was not honored by the Queens Chamber of Commerce although other later additions like the library were. Unlike the rest of the complex which was designed by prolific firm Voorhees Walker Smith Smith & Haines, the architects of the branch were the small firm of Charles B. Ferris Associates in partnership with NY Life’s lead architect, Harmon Gurney. It sits on the edge of the development on the Horace Harding Expressway service road. Recent alterations have removed some of the mid-century elements but the overall design and style are still apparent.