{"nrhp_refnum":"83001774","name":"Jamaica Savings Bank","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"161-02 Jamaica Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"New York","county":"Queens","state":"NY","lat":40.70391265000006,"lon":-73.79870333299993,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1983-05-19","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A slender four-story brick bank building with a limestone facade at 161-02 Jamaica Avenue in the Jamaica section of Queens, New York, built 1897-98 to a design by Hough & Deuell.","why_significant":"The nomination calls it one of the finest Beaux-Arts structures in Queens. It was designed for the oldest and most prestigious banking institution in Jamaica, and the building and its tenant contributed to the early commercial importance of Jamaica Avenue.","narrative":"Rising four stories along Jamaica Avenue, the main business street of southeast Queens, this brick building with a limestone facade was built in 1897-98 as the home of the Jamaica Savings Bank. Architects William C. Hough and Edgar Deuell, Jr. designed it in the Beaux-Arts style, with a rusticated ground floor, bull's-eye windows, garlands of fruit, beehive motifs and a two-story central ensemble with a Rococo balcony. The steel-frame, fireproof structure cost $60,000. The bank had been incorporated in 1866 and was the oldest and most prestigious banking institution in Jamaica, which was then the Queens county seat. The building is considered one of the finest Beaux-Arts structures in the borough and helped establish the commercial standing of Jamaica Avenue. Inside, the main banking room keeps a plaster ceiling with egg and dart moldings and wall-lining writing desks. The bank merged with the Queensboro Savings Bank in 1964, and the building has been unoccupied since.","period_of_significance":"1897-98","architect_builder":"William C. Hough & Edgar Deuell, Jr.","architectural_style":"Beaux-Arts","criteria":[],"status_note":"Unoccupied since the bank's 1964 merger with the Queensboro Savings Bank, when banking operations moved elsewhere; condition listed as good and unaltered, with most furnishings removed from the banking room.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:41.233012-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/83001774.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83001774/c873ac3d7c-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83001774/c873ac3d7c-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"DanTD","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Old_Jamaica_Savings_Bank_Building;_Full_View.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">DanTD</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Old_Jamaica_Savings_Bank_Building;_Full_View.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75321104","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamaica_Savings_Bank","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6127333"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/queens/jamaica-savings-bank-83001774/"}