The eight-story building at 90-04 161st St. in Jamaica Center was built…
By Betsy Scheinbart
The Greater Jamaica Development Corporation is petitioning the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission to consider designating their headquarters building as a city landmark.
The eight-story building at 90-04 161st St. in Jamaica Center was built in 1928 in the then-popular Art Deco style. The structure is sometimes called the old Suffolk Title and Guarantee Building for the tenant which occupied the building for nearly two decades.
Carlisle Towery, president of the Greater Jamaica Development Corporation, which took over the building in 1980, testified in support of the proposal during a Jan. 30 public hearing at the landmarks commission.
“We support the designation of the building, not only because of its architectural quality, but also because we believe that preservation and economic development go hand-in-hand,” Towery said.
Towery mentioned the 11 other landmarked buildings in Jamaica Center, all of which are currently in use or plans exist for their use.
“Together, these buildings enhance the setting for new development and provide an authenticity hard to find in suburban shopping malls and office parks, Jamaica’s competition,” Towery said.
To enhance his argument, Towery quoted from a catalog written by a former curator at the Jamaica Arts Center, William Miller, for a 1978 exhibition called “Four Jamaica Landmarks.”
Miller wrote about the building: “It can be classified as ‘Art Deco,’ a style born in 1925 at the Paris Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs et Industrials Modernes.”
Miller described Art Deco as a style “characterized by the use of sharp geometric shapes” as well as the use of common building materials and decorated with colorful metal and ceramic brick.
The landmarks commission is expected to vote on the issue at its next meeting.
Reach reporter Betsy Scheinbart by e-mail at Timesledgr@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 138.
