REPLACE! WITH BUILDING NAME

[doptg id=”15″]Address: 40-24 62nd Street
Neighborhood: Woodside
Architect:  Perry, Shaw and Hepburn with C. M. Lobejager and William F. Leppin
Year: 1948
Current Status: Extant
Award:  Bronze Plaque for Public Buildings
Typology:  Commercial Building

The J. Bulova Company was founded in 1875 in New York City as a maker of watches and clocks, becoming the largest watchmaker in the world. Subsequently, the Joseph Bulova School of Watchmaking was started in 1945 as a non-profit institution to provide training and rehabilitation for disabled World War II veterans, building a physical school just a few years later.

The complex still exists on a narrow side street in Woodside. Design-wise the building uses elements of high style Georgian architecture and may have been an effort to associate the company to America’s past. The building incorporates an early use of a wheelchair ramp, which was an integral part of the design in order to allow disabled veterans to enter the building easily. According to the history of Bulova, the school evolved into a full-fledged advocate for disabled people nationwide, and acted as one of the founders of wheelchair sports in America. The school closed in 1993. Today the building houses the Church of Latter Day Saints.

Sources:

Savitz, Harriett May. Wheelchair Champions: A History of Wheelchair Sports. iUniverse, 2006. Google books. 12 December 2014. books.google.com

“Bulova” Wikipedia.com