J. Kurtz and Sons Store Building
commercial building in Queens, New York City
J. Kurtz and Sons Store Building is a historic commercial building in the Jamaica neighborhood of Queens in New York City. It was built in 1931 and is a six-story, steel-frame building with two decorated sides in the Art Deco style. It is three bays by six bays and features a metal-framed windows with stepped pylon motif rising through all four floors. They are of cast aluminum with geometric designs. It was built to house a franchise of the J. Kurtz and Sons furniture store, founded by Jacob Kurtz in 1870.
It was designated as a New York City Landmark in 1981, and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. Today it is a local The Children's Place franchise, as well as other local shops and an office for the New York City Department of Probation.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “J. Kurtz and Sons Store Building” as commercial building in Queens, New York City. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as commercial building in Queens, New York City. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 5, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6106258. Authority coordinates are 40.704, -73.797. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1931, 1870, 1981 and 1983.
A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “J. Kurtz and Sons Store Building”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow J. Kurtz and Sons Store Building primary sources, J. Kurtz and Sons Store Building archive and Kurtz research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “J. Kurtz and Sons Store Building”?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “J. Kurtz and Sons Store Building” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.