Park City was completed in 1955 to designs by prolific architect Philip Birnbaum, probably the most prolific of all mid-century apartment building designers, both admired and reviled for specializing in stripped down and efficient designs. According to The New York Times ‘‘banal’’ was among the kinder words used to describe the more than 300 buildings he designed across the city. This complex was completed for Alfred Kaskel, one of Birnbaum’s main developer partners.

The building was constructed in 1948 to the designs of the firm of Frank Grad & Sons. The main detail on the front is the mosaic by the prominent artist A. Raymond Katz which features several typical symbols including a Torah scroll and Ten Commandment tablets. There are also symbols of various Jewish holidays, a theme which is continued on the doors. The mosaic was fabricated at the V. Foscato Factory, a mosaic company in Long Island City. Katz also did the windows on the interior. The significance of the construction was noted at the time and the mayor of New York City attended the dedication.

“66th Road, (path in foreground) east from 102nd Street, showing on the Road in the background the Jarvis Jackson farmhouse just east of 108th St.” Eugene Armbruster, October, 1928. Armbruster’s photo illustrates the rapid pace of 20th century development in this part of Queens. Today, this vantage point is surrounded by high-rise apartment buildings and the Forest Hills hospital.

Sprung Monuments, 1962. Sprung Monuments, a cemetery monument and gravestone company, was established in the mid 1920s by Bella and Isidore Sprung. In the years after the Second World War, their son, Hy opened the showroom seen here on Queens Boulevard. Today that showroom remains open, the business has expanded to locations on Long Island, and it is run by the grand children of its founders.