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TWA Hotel

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Coordinates: 40°38′45″N 73°46′40″W / 40.64572°N 73.77768°W / 40.64572; -73.77768
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TWA Hotel
TWA Hotel building
Map
Former namesTWA Flight Center
General information
StatusCompleted
Architectural styleMidcentury modern[1]
Town or cityNew York City
Coordinates40°38′45″N 73°46′40″W / 40.64572°N 73.77768°W / 40.64572; -73.77768
GroundbreakingDecember 15, 2016; 7 years ago (2016-12-15)
CompletedEarly 2019
OpenedMay 15, 2019; 5 years ago (2019-05-15)
OwnerMCR Hotels[2]
Design and construction
Architect(s)Eero Saarinen (original)
Beyer Blinder Belle / Lubrano Ciavarra Architects (redesign)
Other designersStonehill Taylor (hotel rooms)
INC Architecture and Design (basement event space), Jaros, Baum & Bolles (MEP), Arup Group (Structural)
Other information
Number of rooms512
Number of restaurants6
Website
www.twahotel.com

TWA Hotel is a hotel at John F. Kennedy International Airport in Queens, New York City, that opened on May 15, 2019.[3] It uses the head house of the TWA Flight Center, designed by the architect Eero Saarinen and completed in 1962, and two flanking buildings added for the hotel project. It contains a total of 512 rooms, as well as conference space, several restaurants, and an aviation history museum.

TWA Hotel was developed as part of a project to reuse the head house, which had stopped functioning as an air terminal in 2001. The site was developed by MCR Hotels, the third largest hotel owner in the United States. It is the only hotel operating within the boundaries of JFK Airport.

History

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After the TWA Flight Center closed in 2001, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey sought to redevelop or reuse the terminal.[4] The main building, or head house, was protected from demolition; it had been made a New York City designated landmark in 1994, and subsequently was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2005.[5][6] The head house went largely unused until it was ultimately incorporated into an expansion of Terminal 5,[7] which was completed in 2008 and is occupied by JetBlue Airways.[8][9]

In April 2015, The Wall Street Journal reported that JetBlue and hotel developer MCR Hotels were negotiating for the rights to turn the head house into a hotel.[10] In July 2015, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo confirmed that the Saarinen building would be converted into a new on-site hotel for the airport's passengers.[11]

Construction

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Groundbreaking took place on December 15, 2016, in a ceremony attended by Governor Cuomo, Queens Borough President Melinda Katz, and former employees of Trans World Airlines.[12] The developers signed a 75-year lease with the state.[12] A topping out ceremony for the hotel's first tower was held in December 2017,[13][14] followed by the topping out of the second tower in March 2018.[15] The next month, a model hotel room built inside a JFK Airport hangar was shown to the press.[16] During construction, a sales office and exhibition center, located on the 86th floor of One World Trade Center,[5] was occasionally opened to the public.[17]

That October, Lockheed Constellation L-1649 Starliner N8083H "Star of America" was shipped to the hotel site for conversion into a cocktail bar. The Starliner arrived at the hotel site at the end of November 2018, and in March of 2019 its fuselage was displayed in Times Square.[18][19][20][21] The hotel started taking reservations in February 2019 in advance of a May opening.[22][3] The hotel opened on May 15, 2019.[23][24][25]

Description

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Front view of the TWA Hotel from a nearby parking lot; the AirTrain JFK track is in the foreground
TWA Hotel lounge area

The site was developed by MCR Hotels, which operates middle-to-budget hotels in the United States. It is the only hotel operating within the boundaries of JFK Airport.[26] Beyer Blinder Belle is the architectural firm responsible for renovating the terminal, while Lubrano Ciavarra Architects designed the two new buildings.[5][17] Stonehill Taylor designed the hotel rooms,[27][28][29] and INC Architecture and Design designed the underground event space with 45 meeting rooms and a 7,000-square-foot (650 m2) meeting hall.[28][29] Arup provided structural engineering, with Jaros, Baum & Bolles delivering MEP services.[30]

Many of the TWA Flight Center's original details, such as the custom ceramic floor tiles and the 486 variously shaped window panels, were replaced with replicas of the originals.[31][32] These details were intended to give the hotel a 1960s-era vibe, and include brass lighting, walnut-accented furnishings, and rotary phones. The hallways contain red carpeting, evocative of the color of the furniture in the original TWA lounge. The rooms also contain modern amenities such as blackout curtains and multiple-pane soundproof windows.[32][33] The large departure board, a split-flap display made in Italy by Solari di Udine and which has been a feature of the building since the Flight Center's opening in 1962, was fully restored as part of the hotel project.[3]

Rooms

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Two buildings named Saarinen Wing and Hughes Wing, north and south of the T5 terminal structure, encircle the original headhouse to the east. The two buildings contain a total of 512 rooms between them.[33] The rooms can be booked overnight, as well as for daytime stays of less than 14 hours.[34]

Amenities

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The hotel includes conference space, several restaurants, and an aviation history museum.[5] Artifacts such as flight attendants' uniforms are displayed within the lobby of the TWA Flight Center.[35] There is a fitness room spanning 10,000 square feet (930 m2). The conference space can fit 1,600 guests and has boardrooms, a ballroom, and seating boxes.[34] There is a rooftop infinity swimming pool,[3][36] which is accessible for an additional fee.[35][36] Also within the hotel is an observation deck with 10,000 square feet (930 m2) of floor space.[31][33]

The TWA Hotel includes a cocktail lounge installed inside a preserved Lockheed L-1649 Starliner, the last model of the Lockheed Constellation line of airliners; the lounge is nicknamed "Connie".[18][19] The hotel includes the Paris Café, a Jean-Georges Vongerichten restaurant, as well.[37] In addition, the hotel features a model airport that demonstrates the way the airline's operation center used to look like in the 1960s and 1970s. This model airport was made using TWA model aircraft, runways, and buildings in the 1:400 scale.[38]

Critical reception

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In the September 2–9, 2019, issue of Time, the hotel was placed on the magazine's list of "The World's Greatest Places of 2019".[39] The hotel was featured as the cover story in Interior Design magazine's September 2019 issue.[40] In 2024, aviation consultant Skytrax ranked TWA Hotel as North America's best airport hotel and the world's third-best airport hotel.[34][41]

References

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  1. ^ "TWA Hotel at JFK Airport Repurposes Iconic '60s Terminal Building". Adapt + Reuse. February 18, 2020.
  2. ^ Sperance, Cameron (September 23, 2021). "TWA Hotel Owner: Hospitality Needs to Adopt the Airline Pricing Model". Skift.
  3. ^ a b c d "Up, up and away at the TWA Hotel". CBS News. May 12, 2019. Retrieved May 14, 2019.
  4. ^ Dunlap, David W. (November 28, 2002). "Blocks; Unusual Planning Duel Over Kennedy Terminal". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 2, 2020.
  5. ^ a b c d Gannon, Devin (September 29, 2017). "New details about JFK's TWA Hotel revealed, on track to open in 18 months". 6sqft. Retrieved December 26, 2017.
  6. ^ Dunlap, David W. (February 21, 2008). "Saarinen Terminal to Reopen at Kennedy Airport". City Room. The New York Times. Retrieved July 1, 2020.
  7. ^ Dunlap, David W. (February 22, 2008). "Renovated T.W.A. Terminal to Reopen as JetBlue Portal". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 3, 2020.
  8. ^ "Mayor Bloomberg, Port Authority and Jetblue Cut Ribbon on New $875 Million Terminal at JFK Airport". Media-Newswire.com. September 23, 2008. Retrieved July 1, 2020.
  9. ^ Maynard, Micheline (October 22, 2008). "JetBlue Twitters its New Terminal". The Lede. The New York Times. Retrieved July 1, 2020.
  10. ^ Karmin, Craig (April 14, 2015). "JetBlue Wants to Turn Former TWA Terminal Into Hotel". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved April 18, 2015.
  11. ^ Governor's Press Office (July 27, 2015). "Governor Cuomo Unveils Vision for Transformative Redesign of LaGuardia Airport" (Press release). State of New York. Archived from the original on August 29, 2015. Retrieved August 18, 2015.
  12. ^ a b Plitt, Amy (December 15, 2016). "TWA Terminal hotel celebrates groundbreaking with a new rendering". Curbed NY. Retrieved December 26, 2017.
  13. ^ O'Reilly, Anthony (December 21, 2017). "TWA hotel at JFK Airport tops out". Queens Chronicle. Retrieved December 10, 2018.
  14. ^ Lynch, Patrick (December 17, 2017). "Hotel Transformation of Saarinen's TWA Terminal Tops Out". ArchDaily. Retrieved December 10, 2018.
  15. ^ O'Reilly, Anthony (March 29, 2018). "TWA hotel's second tower tops out at JFK". Queens Chronicle. Retrieved December 10, 2018.
  16. ^ Plitt, Amy (April 17, 2018). "First look inside the TWA Hotel's sleek, midcentury-inspired rooms". Curbed. Retrieved April 22, 2018.
  17. ^ a b Plitt, Amy (September 29, 2017). "TWA Hotel unveils new renderings, retro-themed sales lounge". Curbed NY. Retrieved December 26, 2017.
  18. ^ a b Mauceri, Joe (November 29, 2018). "Vintage plane arrives at JFK, will be converted into retro cocktail lounge". WPIX 11 New York. Retrieved November 30, 2018.
  19. ^ a b Fox, Alison (November 29, 2018). "Sneak peek at TWA plane tapped for cocktail lounge". am New York. Retrieved November 30, 2018.
  20. ^ "Lockheed Constellation Survivors". www.conniesurvivors.com. Retrieved March 11, 2024.
  21. ^ Saraniero, Nicole (March 23, 2019). "A Vintage TWA Plane is in Times Square En Route to Become Cocktail Lounge at New TWA Hotel". Untapped New York. Retrieved March 11, 2024.
  22. ^ Potter, Everett (February 10, 2019). "JFK's TWA Hotel is Now Taking Reservations". Forbes. Retrieved February 25, 2019.
  23. ^ Wichter, Zach (May 15, 2019). "The TWA Hotel Takes Flight at J.F.K." The New York Times. Retrieved May 18, 2019.
  24. ^ "The TWA Hotel opens at JFK". nydailynews.com. May 16, 2019. Retrieved May 18, 2019.
  25. ^ "What's Old Is New Again: TWA Hotel Opens At JFK Airport". CBS New York. May 15, 2019. Retrieved May 18, 2019.
  26. ^ Matthews, Karen (October 12, 2017). "Hotel at iconic TWA terminal will evoke glamour of jet age". USA TODAY. Retrieved December 26, 2017 – via Associated Press.
  27. ^ Fazzare, Elizabeth (April 18, 2018). "Peek Inside the New TWA Hotel in Eero Saarinen's JFK Airport Terminal". Architectural Digest. Retrieved September 1, 2019.
  28. ^ a b Feinstein, Laura (May 28, 2019). "The TWA Hotel's Interiors Aim to Recapture Midcentury Glam". Metropolis. Retrieved September 1, 2019.
  29. ^ a b Firshein, Sarah (July 23, 2019). "How the TWA Terminal, a midcentury icon, became one of NYC's coolest new hotels". Curbed NY. Retrieved September 1, 2019.
  30. ^ "TWA Hotel". Architect. April 30, 2021. Retrieved January 21, 2024.
  31. ^ a b Grabar, Henry (May 1, 2017). "Jet-Age Chic". The Atlantic. Retrieved December 26, 2017.
  32. ^ a b Plitt, Amy (April 17, 2018). "TWA Hotel's rooms will combine the best of '60s style: first look". Curbed NY. Retrieved April 18, 2018.
  33. ^ a b c Brown, Genevieve Shaw (April 17, 2018). "Step inside the brand new TWA hotel at JFK airport in New York City". ABC News. Retrieved April 18, 2018.
  34. ^ a b c "TWA Hotel Wins Best Airport Hotel in North America". Luxury Travel Magazine. April 20, 2024. Retrieved April 26, 2024.
  35. ^ a b Vogel, Scott (March 20, 2024). "Daytripping at the TWA Hotel at JFK Airport: Heated rooftop pool, cocktails and more". Newsday. Retrieved April 26, 2024.
  36. ^ a b Carrick, Evie (July 29, 2019). "How to Spend Your JFK Layover at the TWA Hotel's Rooftop Pool Without Booking a Room". Travel + Leisure. Retrieved January 15, 2024.
  37. ^ Vianna, Carla (May 15, 2019). "Inside the TWA Hotel's Over-the-Top, '60s Chic First Day". Eater NY. Retrieved June 21, 2019.
  38. ^ Lauria-Blum, Julia (September 9, 2023). "The TWA Flight Center". Metropolitan Airport News. Retrieved December 4, 2023.
  39. ^ "Worlds Greatest Places 2019 - To Stay - TWA Hotel". Time. August 22, 2019. Retrieved September 19, 2019.
  40. ^ Giovannini, Joseph (September 19, 2019). "Beyer Blinder Belle, INC, Lubrano Ciavarra, and Stonehill Taylor Propel Eero Saarinen's TWA Flight Center into a 21st-Century Hotel". Interior Design. Retrieved October 3, 2019.
  41. ^ Rahmanan, Anna (April 25, 2024). "This NYC airport hotel was just voted the best in North America". Time Out New York. Retrieved April 26, 2024.
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