Brown, Guenther and Booss | Honorable Mention | Extant | Flushing | Religious Building | 1955 | The orientation of this church is puzzling. Sited on a corner lot, the rear of the church and the apse are located closest to the street while a small, side entrance and the nave are set back along a walkway. The end facing the church incorporates a large cross as decoration. The firm of Brown Guethner Booss designed at least one other religious building in New York, a convent done this same year.
Mathieu, Joseph | Honorable Mention | Extant | Queens Village | Religious Building | 1955 | Joseph Mathieu, this church’s architect, designed another chapel at this same time which won a Queens Chamber Award. Both buildings have stone facade veneer elements that gives texture to the overall design. On the church itself, a stained glass window tops the entrance doors within a recessed frame of polished red granite. The facade has elements of art deco design with streamlined angel carvings and the facade is topped by an image of the church’s patron saint framed with golden rays. The roof is peaked and clad in slate. The neighboring school also incorporates deco elements including a vertical recessed metal window element above the entrance and black bricks patterns in contrast to the lighter colored primary stone. The complex contains numerous other buildings including the rectory, social hall, and separate chapel.
Beatty and Berlenbach | Bronze Plaque for Public Buildings | Extant | Forest Hills | Religious Building | 1955 | Sometimes building campaigns fall short or parish needs change. St. Mel’s Auditorium was built for the neighboring St. Mel’s School as a 900-seat gathering space over a 400-seat basement cafeteria. Today St. Mel’s Auditorium is St. Mel’s Church and the auditorium serves as the main sanctuary, complete with contemporary stained glass. A metallic steeple has been added on top of the flat roof of the auditorium.
Weston, Martyn N. | Honorable Mention | Extant | Glendale | Office Building | 1955 | The Mount Lebanon Cemetery administrative offices are housed in this understated building just inside the cemetery gates. Built on a slope, there is a parking lot on either side of the site. The building itself is clad in brick and has had several additions added or spaces enclosed. The structure can still be identified by the vertical pylon to the right of the entrance. The Brooklyn-based architect Martyn Weston is buried in the cemetery not very far away from this award-winning structure he designed.
Fellheimer and Wagner | Honorable Mention | Significantly Altered | Long Island City | Bank | 1955 | This one-story bank still sits at the beginning of Queens Boulevard, sited by itself along the road with a large expanse of parking behind it. The orientation has changed with the entrance moved to the other side of the building and all original details are now obscured or removed.
