TWA Terminal, JFK Airport, Queens, NY
Posted by: 
hykesj
N 40° 38.743 W 073° 46.685
18T E 603313 N 4500147
This airline terminal building was designed by Finnish-American architect Eero Saarinen and was opened to passengers in the spring of 1962.
Waymark Code: WMNKH1
Location: New York, United States
Date Posted: 03/29/2015
Views: 11
In 1955, Trans World Airlines commissioned Eero Saarinen’s firm to design their new terminal building at New York’s Idlewild airport. The much in demand Saarinen was working on several other commissions at this time including the St. Louis Gateway Arch and the Dulles Airport in Virginia (both featured on U.S. postage stamps) and was forced to ask TWA for some additional time. The resulting design was so unusual that his engineers asked Saarinen how they could pull it off, to which he allegedly replied that it was not his problem. Indeed it wasn’t his problem because Saarinen died suddenly in 1961 before the building could be completed.
In the early sixties, airline travel was just coming into its own and TWA’s new “Flight Center” had all the latest and greatest features. These included mechanized baggage carousels, electronic arrival and departure displays, enclosed passenger jetways and a central public address system among others. It also featured several lounges and food venues all decked out in TWA’s official colors.
But it wasn’t long before increased passenger traffic, jumbo jets and heightened security demands put a strain on the building’s design. Idlewild Airport was renamed John F. Kennedy Airport, TWA declared bankruptcy and went the way of Braniff and Eastern Airlines and today the former TWA Flight Center stands empty and unused.
The empty building currently costs the Port Authority of NY & NJ about $2 million per year for utilities and security. Its location and the fact that it’s been declared a New York City Historic Landmark as well as being placed on the National Register of Historic Places limits the options for prospective owners. Nevertheless, there’s talk of converting the building into a hotel or possibly a conference center.
The stamp is from a 2005 souvenir sheet featuring “Masterworks of Modern American Architecture.”
Update: The Port Authority has found a developer willing to manage the re-purposing of the old terminal into a restaurant/hotel/convention center. Work is currently under way.
Stamp Issuing Country: United States
Date of Issue: 19-May-2005
Denomination: 37 cents
Color: multicolored
Stamp Type: Single Stamp
Relevant Web Site: Not listed
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