Boegel, William J. | Bronze Plaque for Schools and Colleges | Extant | College Point | School or College | 1960 | St. Agnes is one of William Boegel’s more contemporary designs featuring a facade of buff brick and pale green enamel panels. Boegel tended toward historicist elements on his churches and schools, employing Tudor or Gothic Revival design. Here, the school is modern and square and the main decoration is a striking, curved entranceway of red polished granite topped by a large limestone cross that sits at the roofline. The complex includes amenities typical to a school of this era including an auditorium (entered from a separate wing), gymnasium, and state of the art classrooms. The older convent sits to the south of the school and according to the awards program, passage was provided internally for the nuns to go from convent directly into the school.
Weschsler and Schimenti | Honorable Mention | Extant | Hollis | Office Building | 1961 | The Toy & Novelty Workers building is a two-story complex of beige brick with striking decorative elements of sky blue enamel panels and a yellow metal decorative screen. The original signage remains on the building but it seems to house a daycare center now. It is a fitting repurposing of a toy-making union and the decorative details harmonize well with the playground equipment now present in the entrance courtyard.
Perlstein, Jerome W. | Bronze Plaque for Residences | Extant | Bayside | Residence | 1964 | The Felixon Residence is sited on an extremely narrow corner lot coming to its narrowest where the driveway enters the property and leads to the garage under the house. The shape of the lot allows for an expansive frontage at the street with a wall of windows to the right of the entrance and a trellis running along the length of the facade to the right of the entrance. The central entrance hall opens into a living room with cathedral ceiling and sloping roof above. As with other Perlstein-designed projects, the exterior includes several materials, primarily wood but also stone veneer, brick, a shingle roof, and a large stone fireplace. The gently sloping front yard is covered in elaborately shaped plantings which add another element of unusualness to the design.
Brown, Jack with Perlstein, Jerome W. | Bronze Plaque for Apartments | Extant | Forest Hills | Apartment Building | 1964 | The architecture of this apartment building speaks much more to architect Jack Brown rather than his co-designer Jerome Perlstein. Whereas Brown, the LeFrak’s in-house architect, was largely responsible for large commercial and residential towers in brick or metal, Perlstein’s designs tended toward showy facade materials such as stone veneer, decorative screens, and enamel panels. The site here is a steep slope so that the front includes private concrete slab balconies whereas the back includes a communal patio space overlooking an athletic field below.
Beatty and Berlenbach | Bronze Plaque for Schools and Colleges | Extant | Elmhurst | School or College | 1964 | Cathedral Prep expanded into Queens from Brooklyn, previously located in a Gothic Revival building complete with gargoyles in Clinton Hill. The L-shaped school was meant to accommodate the growing population of students for the seminary and along with the later Cathedral College of 1968 in Douglaston, represented the Brooklyn Diocese’s continued efforts to rapidly expand its facilities. However unlike the later Cathedral College, Cathedra Prep is a much more traditional take in terms of its design aesthetics. By this time, the firm of Beatty & Berlenbach was dwindling down, having had their heyday earlier in the century. The materials here are red brick, limestone, and granite and the details are restrained with only window surrounds and some limestone and granite framing. Overall a much more traditional look that speaks more to the 1950s than 60s.
