Airport Terminal to be Turned Into a Hotel! The TWA Terminal at JFK, opened in 1962, is a perfect example of golden age for air travel, but the mid century masterpiece has sat empty for more than a decade. The planes outgrew the terminal, it became cramped and outmoded and as the economics of air travel changed, it became less and less useful to airlines. It officially stopped operating in 2001. However, now it will be reborn! One popular idea has been to turn it into a hotel, and for the past three years developers (including, at one point, Donald Trump) have been competing for the rights to do it. After almost 15 years of disuse, the Port Authority, which controls the building, has finally officially chosen a proposal from Jet Blue to turn the building into a hotel.
Hotel will have 505 rooms as well as 40,000 feet of meeting space and as many as eight restaurants inside the 1962 building. Crowning it will be a 10,000-foot observation deck overlooking the runway. Architects, historians, and New Yorkers in general have fought for years to protect the building and make certain that its future use doesn’t ruin the original architecture. It’s hard to imagine being sincerely excited by an airport these days, but the TWA Terminal, designed by the Finnish-born architect Eero Saarinen, was one of those buildings. It was a wonder of technology–from its architecture to its systems. Take a look!
