DESIGNATION REPORT Public School 48 (now P75Q at P.S. 48, The Robert E. Peary School) Landmarks Preservation Designation Report Designation List 519 Commission Public School 48 LP-2646 September 22, 2020

DESIGNATION REPORT Public School 48 (now P75Q at P.S. 48, The Robert E. Peary School) LOCATION Borough of Queens 155-02 108th Avenue (aka 155-02 – 156-00 108th Avenue; 108-01 – 108-03 155th Street) LANDMARK TYPE Individual SIGNIFICANCE Designed in 1932 by Walter C. Martin, Superintendent of School Buildings for the New York City Board of Education, Public School 48 was the first school constructed using Martin’s “P” plan and is a fine example and early use of the Art Deco style applied to a community elementary school. Landmarks Preservation Designation Report Designation List 519 Commission Public School 48 LP-2646 September 22, 2020

Public School 48, Entrance Detail 2020 LANDMARKS PRESERVATION COMMISSION COMMISSIONERS Lisa Kersavage, Executive Director Sarah Carroll, Chair Mark Silberman, General Counsel Frederick Bland, Vice Chair Timothy Frye, Director of Special Projects and Diana Chapin Strategic Planning Wellington Chen Kate Lemos McHale, Director of Research Michael Devonshire Cory Herrala, Director of Preservation Michael Goldblum John Gustafsson Anne Holford-Smith REPORT BY Everardo Jefferson Marianne Percival, Research Department Jeanne Lutfy Adi Shamir-Baron EDITED BY Kate Lemos McHale PHOTOGRAPHS BY Michael Caratzas Landmarks Preservation Designation Report Designation List 519 Commission Public School 48 LP-2646 September 22, 2020 3 of 24

Public School 48 (now P75Q at P.S. 48, The Robert E. Peary School) 155-02 108th Avenue (aka 155-02 – 156-00 108th Avenue; 108-01 – 108-03 155th Street) Queens Designation List 519 LP-2646 Built: 1932-1936 Architect: Walter C. Martin Landmark Site: Borough of Queens, Tax Map Block 10144, Lot 42 Calendared: June 9, 2020 Public Hearing: August 4, 2020 On August 4, 2020, the Landmarks Preservation Commission held a public hearing on the proposed designation of Public School 48 (now P75Q at P.S. 48, The Robert E. Peary School) as a New York City Landmark and the proposed designation of the related Landmark Site (Item No.1). The hearing was duly advertised in accordance with the provisions of the law. The Commission received support for the proposed designation from four people including Councilmember Adrienne E. Adams, and representatives of the New York Landmarks Conservancy, Historic Districts Council, and the Art Deco Society of New York. No one spoke in opposition. In addition, the agency received one letter in support of designation of Public School 48. Landmarks Preservation Designation Report Designation List 519 Commission Public School 48 LP-2646 September 22, 2020 4 of 24

Summary built along the “P” type plan, originally developed by Walter C. Martin in 1930, incorporating an Public School 48 (now P75Q at P.S. 48, The Robert extended auditorium wing with space for more E. Peary School) classrooms. At Public School 48, the proposed auditorium wing was never added. Walter C. Martin, Superintendent of School Buildings for the Board of Education from 1928 until 1938, designed hundreds of new schools Proposed in 1931 and completed in 1936, the Art and/or additions to existing schools throughout the Deco style Public School 48 in South Jamaica five boroughs, including 34 new elementary schools represents an extensive construction program and five high schools in Queens alone. Martin’s undertaken by the New York City Board of school designs were executed in a variety of styles, Education to relieve overcrowding in existing school displaying the range of approaches to school design districts and to meet the needs of new growing in the interwar period. Martin used the modernistic residential neighborhoods after World War I. It is a or Art Deco style for some large projects—such as notable design by its architect, Walter C. Martin, and his 1929-31 Herman Ridder Junior High School

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