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Jamaica Savings Bank
(current)
Built: 1939
Address: 146-21 Jamaica Ave.,
Jamaica
Architect Morrell Smith,
celebrated for his designs of
commercial bank buildings,
designed this branch of
Jamaica Savings Bank in
1939. Set on a trapezoidal
lot, the one-story building
faces an intersection with
an angled facade and corner
entrance.
Jamaica Savings Bank
(former)
Built: 1897-98
Address: 161-02 Jamaica Ave.,
Jamaica
Designed by the firm
of Hough & Deuell, the
building is an example of
the classically inspired
Beaux-Arts style, executed
in carved limestone and
wrought iron and is one
of only a few buildings in
Queens to embrace that
aesthetic. Sited on Jamaica
Avenue, the building is
an urbane presence on
the neighborhood’s main
commercial thoroughfare.
J. Kurtz and Sons Store
Built: 1931
Address: 162-24 Jamaica Ave.,
Jamaica
The ground floor storefront
on Jamaica Avenue wraps
around the corner onto Guy
Brewer Boulevard. Corner
windows on the upper floors
add an additional modern
design element to the
building.
King Manor Museum
Built: 1900
Address: 150-03 Jamaica
Ave., Jamaica
The King Manor Association
of L.I. Inc. operates the
historic house as a museum
to preserve and interpret
the home and legacy of
Rufus King. The only historic
house museum in southeast
Queens, King Manor serves
a largely minority and
immigrant community and
engages its audiences
through historic site tours,
interactive exhibits, lectures,
public programs and school
and community outreach.
La Casina
Built: around 1933
Address: 90-33 160th St.,
Jamaica
The building is a former
nightclub built in the Modern
style. It now houses the Jamaica
Business Resource Center.
Loew’s Valencia Theater
Built: 1929
Address: 165-11 Jamaica Ave.,
Jamaica
It currently houses the
Tabernacle of Prayer for
All People. Designed by
John Eberson, the former
theater was the first of five
atmospheric movie palaces
constructed by the Loew’s
Corp. outside Manhattan in
the 1920s.
Prospect Cemetery
Built: around 1668
Address: 159th Street near
York College and the Long
Island Rail Road station,
Jamaica
In the 19th century, the
cemetery expanded through
the purchase of individual lots.
It contains tombstones and
monuments of varying ages
and styles and the burials of
Revolutionary War veterans
and early prominent families
from Long Island and Queens.
Queens General Court House
Built: 1936-39
Address: 88-11 Sutphin Blvd.,
Jamaica
The Modern Classical
style was selected for
this building because it
was thought to express
the dignity and majesty
of the law. An example of
the style, the E-shaped,
seven-story building is faced
with Alabama limestone
and articulated with neo-
Classical ornament.
Ralph Bunche House
Built: 1927
Address: 115-24 Grosvenor
Road, Kew Gardens
Dr. Ralph Bunche and his
family lived for more than
30 years in a neo-Tudor style
residence built in 1927 and
designed by the architects
Koch & Wagner. Bunche
had an illustrious career
in academia, international
service and diplomacy,
which included the 1950
Nobel Peace Prize for his
role in negotiating armistice
settlements between Israel
and its Arab neighbors.
The Register
Built: 1898
Address: 161-04 Jamaica
Ave., Jamaica
It was built in the year
Queens was incorporated
into Greater New York. The
LANDMARKS
building is faced in limestone
and has a tripartite design of
base, piano nobile, and attic
story.
Sidewalk Clock
Built: around 1900
Address: 161-11 Jamaica Ave.,
Jamaica
It is one of only two extant
sidewalk clocks in Queens.
The original manufacturer
and installer are unknown,
and the clock has been
somewhat altered with the
insertion of electric clock
units and the installation of
neon signs.
St. Monica’s Church
Built: 1856
Address: 94-20 160th St.,
Jamaica
Typical Romanesque Revivalstyle
elements include
round-arched openings,
turrets, a heavy cornice at
the top of the campanile and
corbelling. The new building
has a square massing and a
skin of brick piers and metal
panels.
Suffolk Tile and Guarantee
Co. Building
Built: 1929
Address: 90-04 161st St.,
Jamaica
The two-story base is clad
in brick and stone and the
ground floor window and
entrance bays are deeply
recessed. The upper floors
are faced in brick and
articulated with projecting
piers and decorative spandrel
panels.
Western
Astoria Park Pool and Play
Center
Built: 1934-36
Address: 19th Street
between 22nd Drive and
Hoyt Avenue North, Astoria
Many architects, landscape
architects and engineers
were hired to create the pool
program and the hundreds
of other new construction
and rehabilitation projects
undertaken between 1934
and 1936 by the then-new
city Parks Department.
Embedded into what has
now become a wooded
slope, the play center
complex was designed
to take advantage of its
surroundings.
Congregation Tifereth Israel
Built: 1911
Address: 109-18 54th Ave.,
Corona
The oldest active synagogue
in Corona, the Congregation
Tifereth Israel is a survivor
of the earliest Jewish
synagogues built in Queens.
This synagogue, whose
full name is translated as
“Congregation Independent
Community, Glory of Israel,
People of Corona,” was built in
1911 to house a congregation
of Jews that had relocated to
Queens primarily from other
parts of the city.
Fire Engine Co. No. 258/
Hook and Ladder Co. No. 115
Built: 1902-04
Address: 10-40 47th Ave.,
Long Island City
Designed by Bradford
Lee Gilbert, the Dutch
Renaissance Revival-style
building was erected as part
of a campaign to expand fire
protection in Queens and
improve working conditions
for Queens firefighters. Long
Island City was the first area
in the borough to have a
professional fire department
and both companies trace
their origins to an act by the
state Legislature in 1890.
Newtown High School
Built: 1920-21
Address: 48-01 90th St.,
Elmhurst
The school was the result of
several building campaigns,
which began with the
construction of a small,
wooden school house in
1866 to serve children from
the Village of Newtown and
surrounding farms.
PS 66
Built: 1898
Address: 85-11 102nd St.,
Richmond Hill
The red brick building is
Victorian Eclectic in style.
Many of its features are
characteristic of the
Romanesque Revival style
and give the building a
fortress-like appearance,
including prominent round
arches highlighting window
openings and the main
entrance, a flared base and
a distinctive, six-story tower,
which was restored in 2001.
Richmond Hill Republican
Club
Built: 1908
Address: 86-15 Lefferts Blvd.,
Richmond Hill
Vacant since the mid-1980s,
the Richmond Hill Republican
Club is an example of a
clubhouse designed to
serve the social, political
and recreational needs of
a local community and a
prototype of small-scale
Colonial Revival style civic
architecture.
Ridgewood Theater Building
Built: 1916
Address: 55-27 Myrtle Ave.,
Ridgewood
This theater showed movies
for more than 90 years,
retaining its original use
through numerous changes
in the presentation of movies
and the interior environment
of the theater, including the
addition of sound for “talkies”
and in spite of the competition
provided by television and
other forms of entertainment.
Sohmer & Co. Piano Factory
Building
Built: around 1886
Address: 31-01 Vernon Blvd.,
Long Island City
The original part of the
building, which included the
clock tower, was built as the
piano factory for Sohmer
& Co. It was designed by
the firm Berger & Baylies,
which produced plans for
commercial and residential
buildings throughout New
York City, including several
warehouses and store-andloft
buildings.
A24 TIMESLEDGER, GUIDE TO QUEENS, FALL/WINTER 2021 TL TIMESLEDGER.COM
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