The Church of the Transfiguration in Queens, NY, designed by Lithuanian architect Jonas Mulokas and artist Vytautas Kazimieras Jonynas, is now threatened with closure and possible demolition. DOCOMOMO US/New York Tri-State is asking the LPC to designate this site, a key piece of Lithuanian American history and culture, as an individual landmark. Designation of this structure would protect the building from demolition or inappropriate exterior alteration, and help celebrate this site of religious, architectural, cultural, and historical importance for the future.

The 1962 church is an unusual combination of modern design and construction with Lithuanian folk elements along the lines of a country church, which would have been a welcome and comforting sight to the many Lithuanian immigrants who came to the US in the 20th Century. The church was featured on the front cover of The New York Times in 1962, along the TWA Terminal at JFK Airport, as one of the five best new buildings in New York. It also received an award from the Queens Chamber of Commerce.

Jonas Mulokas was a pioneering Lithuanian architect. During WWII, Mulokas and his family fled Lithuania and spent time in a displaced persons camp, eventually making their way to the United States by 1949. While Mulokas designed other buildings in New York City, this is the only extant project. The interior elements were created by the prolific Lithuanian-American architect Vytautas Kazimieras Jonynas. He studied in France and moved to the US in 1950. Between 1955 and 1979 Jonynas designed interiors for over 60 churches in the United States, Europe, and Australia.

The church is located at 64-25 Perry Avenue, in Maspeth, a residential and commercial community in the borough of Queens, NY.

Support this effort

The church and the larger Lithuanian community have started a petition in support of local landmark designation and protection of this site.
Petition link