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.
Evans and Delehanty | Bronze Plaque for Banks | Demolished | Elmhurst | Bank | 1966 | This building was at the corner of Queens Boulevard and Broadway, a location especially chosen to give the bank prominent placement. It is unclear why a round bank was designed although the award”s program states that the round shape was informed by the corner lot and need for an entrance facing the intersection. However, with Skidmore Owings and Merrill’s complex of round buildings for Macy’s and National City Bank just down Queens Boulevard, it is possible that this bank was inspired by its nearby neighbors, completed just the year before. The bank was constructed with a precast concrete exterior while the disengaged roof was held up on interior columns. The interior also included a symmetrical arrangement of teller stations and a Venetian terrazzo floor. The building was demolished in 2004 and the lot is currently empty.
