The Ridgewood Savings Bank from 1939-40 is Forest Hills only designated New York City landmark. The architects Halsey, McCormack & Helmer, were known for bank architecture, designing all over the city, including the home office of this bank in Ridgewood. The bank managers chose the Forest Hills location for the bank’s first branch office because of its growing population and newly-opened subway stop. The style is Deco, not Modern, but shows movement toward a more modern style that was already present in Queens.

RKO MIDWAY THEATRE 108-22 Queens Boulevard S. Charles Lee for Thomas W. Lamb Associates, 1942 Named for the World War II Battle of Midway, this theater boasts 2,000 seats. Thomas W. Lamb was a prolific theater designer, having been responsible for roughly 300 theaters across the country. This theater bears the distinction of being his last project and one of only a few designed in the Art Moderne style. Its undulating limestone façade features a large vertical beacon with letters spelling out “MIDWAY.” The structure currently houses a United Artists cinema along with a variety of shops and restaurants.

RIDGEWOOD SAVINGS BANK 107-55 Queens Boulevard Halsey, McCormack & Helmer, 1939-40 The first branch of the Ridgewood Savings Bank, the location was chosen for its proximity to public transportation and the area’s growing population. Situated on its own triangular lot, the limestone-clad bank is a prominent structure on bustling Queens Boulevard. Aside from its location, the bank is noteworthy for its mix of Art Deco and Modern Classical style design. Its rounded ends are connected by side walls with alternating flat and curved panels, as well as large windows and decorative motifs that include eagles, wavy lines and clock faces. At the rounded ends, vertical piers mimic Classical columns and bronze doors and window grates at the main entrance feature simple spear and fan motifs. Just off of Queens Boulevard at 108-19 71st Avenue is another civic structure: the Forest Hills Branch of the Queens Public Library, a simple brick building designed by Boak & Raad and built in 1957.

Birds-eye view of the Forest Hills Gardens development, from the top of the nine-story Forest Hills Inn tower, June 1, 1916. The street at center is Greenway Terrace. The plan of Forest Hills Gardens was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., the son of the famed landscape architect and park designer whose many projects include Central Park and Prospect Park.

OUR LADY QUEEN OF MARTYRS, OUR LADY QUEEN OF MARTYRS SCHOOL 110-6 Queens Boulevard, Maginnis & Walsh, 1938-39 72-55 Austin Street Maginnis & Walsh, 1928 The parish of Our Lady Queen of Martyrs was founded in 1912, as the development of Forest Hills was in full swing. Its original wood frame chapel building burned down in 1929, just after the completion of the church’s beautiful neo-Gothic school building. It would be ten more years until a new sanctuary would be built, with services taking place in the school’s auditorium in the interim. Modeled after England’s Durham Cathedral, the cruciform sanctuary building was constructed of granite and limestone and features an abundance of stained glass. It is the largest Catholic church in Queens. If you walk along Queens Boulevard on 72nd Avenue, you will see some of the earliest residences in Forest Hills, which are commemorated by a plaque on number 108-19.

At the far left of this image is a brick corner building. It was constructed in 1927 for a Masonic temple but as the development of Forest Hills boomed in anticipation of the new subway line (the construction pictured here was subway work) the need for a bank arose. The Georgian Colonial style building became the Boulevard Bank within a few years (with the local real estate developer's sign at the top). It was still owned by the Masons who used a second-floor space. One of the first executives of the new bank was Fred Gretsch, a guitar maker who lived nearby. (Gretsch Guitars are now world famous.) Since 1966 the building has been home to the Sterling National Bank.

112-06 70tth Road, ca. 1929. At this site once stood the Seminole Club of Forest Hills. Situated on Seminole Avenue (now 112th Street) and Harvest Street (now 70th Road), the association opened in 1928 and existed into the 1980s, featuring a clubhouse and nine tennis courts. Over the years, the Seminole Club hosted the New York State men’s championships, ladies singles championships, and the annual mixed-doubles championship. During its heyday, it attracted the likes of William Pardoe, who was inducted into the Platform Tennis Hall of Fame, as well as Frank Sedgman of Australia, a U.S. national champion, Davis Cup star, an inductee of the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

The theater is named for the Battle of Midway, which took place in 1942, the same year it opened its door. It was designed by the prolific theater architect S. Charles Lee for Thomas W. Lamb Associates. Lee was an early adopter of more modern styles including the Midway’s main style, Moderne. The streamlined facade with strong vertical elements exemplifies this and is also a nice counterpoint to the Deco designs of the earlier Ridgewood Savings Bank nearby.

The Kelvin Apartments, viewed from Queens Boulevard, November 25, 1928. The Kelvin, a low-rise apartment building by the Cord Meyer Development Company, was an early example of the high-density residential architecture that would soon arrive in this part of Forest Hills, spurred by the 1936 extension of the IND Queens Boulevard Line.

Excavation for the IND Queens Boulevard subway, March 17, 1930. This view of mid-construction Queens Boulevard is eastward from near Harvest Street (now 70th Road) at the site of the future 71st-Continental Avenues station (now Forest Hills-71st Avenue). Forest Hills IND stations opened on New Year’s Eve 1936.

Forest Hills Gardens, Greenway Terrace entrance and bridge, July 24, 1927. Forest Hills Gardens was designed as a planned community for New Yorkers of all social classes — a sort of American response to the English garden communities — but developed into a wealthy enclave, due to the high cost of construction and the use of restrictive covenants that, while they did not explicitly prohibit minority ownership, discouraged working class and minority residents in practice. Architect Grosvenor Atterbury’s neo-Tudor, neo-Georgian, and Arts and Crafts designs are protected by a strict design covenant adopted by the governing Forest Hills Gardens Corporation in 1922, which preserves the development’s distinctive architectural character.

Survey photo documenting the south trolley track at Queens Boulevard, east of 72nd Road; October 1, 1930. When completed in 1930, the Georgian Court apartment building, at left, became the first Queens Boulevard apartment complex in Forest Hills. Three and four-room apartments were available for $100-140/mo, and included amenities like passenger elevators, gas stoves, and colored tile. Before Our Lady Queen of Martyrs church was completed in 1936, residents enjoyed easy access to tennis courts across 72nd Road.

Queens Boulevard, February 18, 1930. The house at left is at the southwest corner of Queens and Yellowstone Boulevards.

Burns Street, Forest Hills Gardens, August 14, 1935.