IF the Jetsons had flown Trans World Airlines, they would have felt at home in its terminal at Kennedy Airport, a swooping, birdlike concrete building, designed by the architect Eero Saarinen, that fed its passengers out to their gates through dreamlike, windowless white tubes. The departure lounges were similarly futuristic: glassy flared cabins, outfitted with curving banquettes, padded sectional tables, and a rounded desk for the gate attendant.
Last week, however, jacked up on timbers and amputated from its concourse in an out-of-the-way section of the old T.W.A. tarmac, the last remaining Saarinen departure lounge had little of that Jet Age glamour. In fact, it looked like nothing so much as the bow of a rusting beige ship.
The story of how the lounge got there is an odd tale of airport diplomacy. JetBlue Airways is constructing a large, crescent-shaped terminal just behind the 46-year-old T.W.A. building, which has been shuttered since 2001. To make way for its new structure, the airline planned to demolish Saarinen’s original concourses and departure lounges, while preserving the far better known terminal and its connector tubes, which the Port Authority, the airport’s operator, will refurbish and reopen.
But last April, to placate preservationists, the Port Authority agreed to spare a single Saarinen lounge. It spent $895,000 to saw the 700-ton structure off the concourse and haul it 1,500 feet out of the way. That feat was so gargantuan that a crew from the History Channel showed up to record it for a show called “Mega Movers.” There the lounge has sat for almost a year, while everyone ponders its future.
Among those doing the pondering is Bill Hooper, an architect retained by JetBlue. “It’s like having an anvil sitting on a bunch of soda straws,” Mr. Hooper said the other day as he surveyed the lounge.
The Municipal Art Society, a preservation group, argues that the lounge should be incorporated into JetBlue’s new terminal.
“The lounge is a piece of DNA,” said Frank Sanchis, the society’s senior vice president. “With it, if someone ever wanted to restore the Saarinen building for use by smaller aircraft, they could see the foundations, how it was supported, the configuration of the glass, the slabs, the tiling. To throw away that opportunity is a tremendous waste.”
But JetBlue has long maintained that it would be prohibitively expensive to restore the lounge, and difficult to put the structure to use. The Port Authority has come to agree, concluding that money available for restoration would be better used for the Saarinen terminal, known as the head house. Last month, with the approval of the state’s Historic Preservation Office, the authority gave JetBlue permission to demolish the lounge.
At this point, even some preservationists approve. “We support this plan,” said Peg Breen, president of the Landmarks Conservancy. “Given that JetBlue doesn’t think it works with the design of the terminal, and that the money for restoring it could otherwise be used for the head house, we think that’s a more appropriate use.”
New York Times 16 March 2008 Alex Mindlin
Last week, however, jacked up on timbers and amputated from its concourse in an out-of-the-way section of the old T.W.A. tarmac, the last remaining Saarinen departure lounge had little of that Jet Age glamour. In fact, it looked like nothing so much as the bow of a rusting beige ship.
The story of how the lounge got there is an odd tale of airport diplomacy. JetBlue Airways is constructing a large, crescent-shaped terminal just behind the 46-year-old T.W.A. building, which has been shuttered since 2001. To make way for its new structure, the airline planned to demolish Saarinen’s original concourses and departure lounges, while preserving the far better known terminal and its connector tubes, which the Port Authority, the airport’s operator, will refurbish and reopen.
But last April, to placate preservationists, the Port Authority agreed to spare a single Saarinen lounge. It spent $895,000 to saw the 700-ton structure off the concourse and haul it 1,500 feet out of the way. That feat was so gargantuan that a crew from the History Channel showed up to record it for a show called “Mega Movers.” There the lounge has sat for almost a year, while everyone ponders its future.
Among those doing the pondering is Bill Hooper, an architect retained by JetBlue. “It’s like having an anvil sitting on a bunch of soda straws,” Mr. Hooper said the other day as he surveyed the lounge.
The Municipal Art Society, a preservation group, argues that the lounge should be incorporated into JetBlue’s new terminal.
“The lounge is a piece of DNA,” said Frank Sanchis, the society’s senior vice president. “With it, if someone ever wanted to restore the Saarinen building for use by smaller aircraft, they could see the foundations, how it was supported, the configuration of the glass, the slabs, the tiling. To throw away that opportunity is a tremendous waste.”
But JetBlue has long maintained that it would be prohibitively expensive to restore the lounge, and difficult to put the structure to use. The Port Authority has come to agree, concluding that money available for restoration would be better used for the Saarinen terminal, known as the head house. Last month, with the approval of the state’s Historic Preservation Office, the authority gave JetBlue permission to demolish the lounge.
At this point, even some preservationists approve. “We support this plan,” said Peg Breen, president of the Landmarks Conservancy. “Given that JetBlue doesn’t think it works with the design of the terminal, and that the money for restoring it could otherwise be used for the head house, we think that’s a more appropriate use.”
New York Times 16 March 2008 Alex Mindlin
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