Peter Magnani (1938-2021) left an indelible mark on the built environment of Queens through his life’s work as an architect and city planner. He shepherded the creation of many of the most important public buildings in the borough over the past 35 years. Peter viewed all his projects through the lens of how they would promote the welfare and quality of life of the community. Fairness, equality and balance were his motivating principles. Queens is home to more green spaces, beautiful libraries and other architecturally noteworthy public buildings thanks to his vision and expertise. Peter started his career in the public sector in 1968 in the Bronx Office of City Planning, rising by 1977 to the position of director. In 1980, he assumed the same post at the Queens Office of City Planning, the borough where he was born and where he lived. In this role, Peter advocated for a mixed-zoning plan for Long Island City to protect the area’s factories and industrial production and the current owners of single-family homes from unchecked high-rise development. His plan permitted construction or expansion of light industry and one- and two-family houses. The plan also called for the preservation for public use of Long Island City’s waterfront, which was no longer heavily used by industry. With an eye to balance and job growth, Peter also got Planning Commission approval for the Citicorp Office Tower in Long Island City. His work set the stage for the current development of Long Island City.

In 1986, Claire Shulman asked Peter to become her deputy. Over the next 16 years as deputy borough president, he planned and implemented the Queens West mixed-use waterfront development and championed the building of the new Queens Hospital Center, the Flushing Meadow Corona Park Olympic swimming pool and ice rink, the Queens Hall of Science addition and Queens Borough Public Library at Flushing. Following Peter’s advice, Shulman allocated funding in the 1990s to restore sections of the 34th Avenue median between 69th Street and Junction Boulevard that had been removed in the 1960s. In the spring of 2020, thanks in part to that green median bisecting the street, 34th Avenue became one of New York City’s most successful Open Street projects.

In 2002, Peter became the director of capital program management for the Queens Borough Public Library. In that role, he oversaw the largest and most successful building program in the history of the library. The Children’s Library Discovery Center in Jamaica and notable new branch libraries in Long Island City, Glen Oaks, Elmhurst, Far Rockaway and Hunters Point were all built during his tenure. Peter was instrumental in the selection of Steven Holl and his “Beacon of Light” design concept for the new Hunters Point branch near the waterfront. In addition to the construction of new library buildings, he brought all the branches of the library system into the 21st century by installing machines that patrons could use to check out books on their own.

Alongside his work as a city planner and builder, Peter played an instrumental role in the Towers Cooperative, his home of nearly 53 years in Jackson Heights. In the 1970s, he led a successful tenant-sponsored conversion of this complex of 120 rental apartments into a cooperative and became the founding president of the co-op’s board. Jackson Heights was referred to as the “Cocaine Capital” by New York Magazine at the time, and the success of the Towers conversion to co-op status helped stabilize the neighborhood. In 2010, the New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects awarded Peter its Public Architect Award for achieving architectural design excellence in the public realm.