Birnbaum, Philip | Extant | Forest Hills | Apartment Building | 1966 | Kennedy House was seen as the height of fashion when it was built and today still retains cache for its high end amenities and stringent board. It was designed by the prolific Philip Birnbaum and was the tallest building in the borough when completed, at 34 stories. It is set back at an angle to Queens Boulevard, taking up less than 25% of the entire site with a wide entrance drive that originally included reflecting pools. The lobby is double-height and includes an enormous chandelier, original to the building. There is a rooftop swimming pool and apartments have large smoked-glass balconies.
Persich and Giacopelli | Bronze Plaque for Commercial-Retail | Extant | Flushing | Restaurant | 1966 | Highlighting both the continued popularity of traditional architecture and the ongoing adaptability of modern materials, the Villa Bianca Restaurant is a modern fireproof shell with interior and exterior finishes designed to make it look like a traditional Italian style structure. These details include a stucco exterior, multi-paned windows facing the street and a sloped roof covered in terra cotta tiles. Today the building houses a Korean church but the overall structure remains the same, although it is unclear what remains of the teak flooring, and terrazzo and marble on the interior.
Sirof and Sivertsen | Bronze Plaque for Industrial | Extant | Long Island City | Industrial Building | 1965 | This building today serves as a social services center for the disabled but largely remains the same on the exterior from its industrial days as a factory for knitting and sewing. The structure is a large, singular rectangle with clad in brick with some granite details at ground level. There is a prominent double-height entrance framed by vertical and horizontal exposed steel beams, which originally had a cantilevered entrance staircase, since modified. The building is sited on a slope which accommodates a garage underneath the building for parking.
Fellman, Raymond F. | Bronze Plaque for Banks | Extant | Flushing | Flushing National Bank today is the National Bank of New York City, which has it own quirky 1970s era logo, but otherwise, has made minimal changes to the exterior of the building. The design feels later than 1965, with its low, horizontal design, and varied colors of muted brown brick and tinted glass windows. A second story has been added on one end of the building and some mosaic tiling has been removed.
Boegel and Allodi | Bronze Plaque for Religious Buildings | Extant | Flushing | Religious Building | 1965 | St. Mary is another example of Boegel and Allodi’s classical design using modern materials. The Gothic design incorporates ashlar and limestone, a traditional rose window. The sanctuary ceiling is wood with stained glass from Ireland. The only mention in the awards description to a more modern material is the use of Waylite blocks, a type of concrete block created in the 1930s.
