Heller, Simeon | Bronze Plaque for Residences | Extant | Flushing | Residence | 1954 | This structure built by an architect for his own residence is a simple and striking example of residential design. Heller was a longtime Queens Chamber Building Awards chairman and jury member. For his own home, he designed a modest home with, as the program book states, “…thought given to orientation for privacy, ventilation and view.” The building sits above grade on a slope with a garage and basement at street level. Although the description states that the design employs no special ornamentation, a calm design emerges with natural materials blending into a terraced landscape behind a rock retaining wall. The current owners have lovingly maintained the exterior design including a unique wood lattice framework on the side elevation.
Bousquet, George L. | Bronze Plaque for Rehabilitation | Extant | Flushing | Residence | 1949 | This residence was awarded as a rehabilitation not a residence, as the modern intervention was to expand the house from a one-family to two-family and one story to two, with an additional one-story extension. According to the awards program description, both residences have front and rear access. The interior was completely gutted and redone. The exterior remains mostly intact and features a facade of granite veneer on the first floor, shingles on the second, and a slate roof.
Heller, Simeon | Bronze Plaque for Office Buildings | Demolished | Flushing | Office Building | 1948 | This building addressed the issue of inserting a mixed use into a residential neighborhood. The structure, which housed both a residence and medical office had the character of a low ranch structure facing north to allow light to enter the examination and operating rooms. The building had a low hipped roof and a facade of brick and stone. It was demolished in approximately 2001 and the site is now filled by multifamily attached housing. Coincidentally, there is a similar building immediately nearby, the award-winning 1959 residence of Dr. Elmer Kestler, which also addresses the same issue and remains largely intact.
Berman, Jacob | Honorable Mention | Extant | Flushing | Commercial Building | 1951 | 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.
