Engelhardt, T. H. | Bronze Plaque for Commercial | Significantly Altered | Forest Hills | Commercial Building | 1948 | The basic shape of this curved corner commercial site is still visible although otherwise largely altered. The original design attempted to be classic yet contemporary by being both low-scale with numerous windows and use of elegant materials such as limestone, white marble, stainless steel, and granite. There were also originally numerous neon signs advertising the commercial establishments located here, although not referenced in the award program. Today the building is a bank and over the entrance in the recessed curve is a large mural of the sites of Forest Hills, a fitting addition to a commercial building built and owned by the company that developed much of the surrounding neighborhood.
Hohauser, William I. | Bronze Plaque for Industrial | Long Island City | Industrial Building | 1948 | The Universal Steel Equipment Corporation building is located in a largely intact industrial zone in Long Island City. These blocks, located approximately between Skillman Avenue, 39th Street, the Long Island Expressway and the beginning of Queens Boulevard, shelter a number of Queens Chamber Award winners. This building is an example of how moderne design was moving into modernism with a long, low, streamlined profile. The materials are basic and include brick, concrete and glass brick with limestone and aluminum trim. This remains one of the most intact and earliest Queens Chamber winners. It is now occupied by a vitamin distributor.
Leppin, William F. with Lobejager, Charles M. with Perry, Shaw and Hepburn | Bronze Plaque for Public Buildings | Extant | Woodside | School or College | 1948 | 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.
Braunstein, Benjamin | Bronze Plaque for Commercial-Industrial | Significantly Altered | Jamaica | 1948 | The one-story Lincoln-Mercury building featured a rounded showroom with floor to ceiling windows and finished with brick and terra cotta trim. Behind this was an open plan service station and repair shop. Schildkraut Inc. had sold Fords and Mercurys at this location since at least 1941, although its unclear if they commissioned this new building. On the site today is a rounded one-story structure that is connected to a much larger storage warehouse. Although this may be the remnant of the auto showroom, if so it has been too altered to confirm
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.
