New York State Pavilion
The New York State Pavilion is a pavilion at Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Queens, New York City, New York. Constructed for the 1964 New York World's Fair, it was designed by the architects Philip Johnson and Richard Foster, with Lev Zetlin as the structural engineer. The pavilion consists of three reinforced concrete-and-steel structures: the Tent of Tomorrow, observation towers, and Theaterama. It is owned by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The New York State Pavilion was first proposed in January 1960. After the New York state government agreed to host an exhibit at the World's Fair in early 1962, work on the structures began on October 8, 1962. It opened on April 23, 1964, and operated as a World's Fair attraction for two years. NYC Parks took over the structures in 1967 and leased out the Theaterama as a performing-arts theater in 1969. The Tent of Tomorrow briefly served as a concert venue and roller rink in the 1970s, while the observation towers never reopened. After briefly reopening in the 1980s, the Tent of Tomorrow was abandoned into the 21st century. Following years of preservation efforts, the Tent of Tomorrow was repainted in 2014, and the structures underwent rehabilitation starting in 2019.
The Tent of Tomorrow is a elliptical structure measuring across, with a cable suspension roof and a terrazzo highway map of New York state on its floor. There are three observation towers, the tallest of which is high. The Theaterama, a drum-shaped reinforced concrete structure, has housed the Queens Theatre performing arts center since 1989. The New York State Pavilion was used for TV and movie sets over the years, and it has had generally positive architectural reception.
Development
, a former ash dump in the New York City borough of Queens, was used for the 1939/1940 New York World's Fair. At the conclusion of the fair, it was used as a park. The Flushing Meadows site was selected in 1959 for the 1964 New York World's Fair. Gilmore David Clarke and Michael Rapuano, designers of the original World's Fair layout, were retained to tailor the original 1939 park layout for the new fair. New York City parks commissioner Robert Moses was president of the World's Fair Corporation, which leased the park from the city until 1967, after the fair's completion.Planning
Moses had proposed a World's Fair pavilion for the government of New York state as early as January 1960, four months before he became the president of the World's Fair Corporation. By late 1960, Moses was drawing up plans for exhibits at the pavilion, including exhibits about tourism, New York state geography, and the New York Power Authority. The corporation's officials discussed the location of the proposed pavilion for over a year, and they ultimately selected a site known as Block 46 in May 1961. The site covered and was chosen specifically because it was slightly larger than Block 45, which was to be occupied by the government of New Jersey. Negotiations over potential exhibits, including discussions over a potential fashion exhibit, continued through 1961.New York's lieutenant governor, Malcolm Wilson, signed a contract with the World's Fair Corporation in February 1962, allowing the government of New York state to sponsor an exhibit at the 1964 World's Fair. At the time, the governments of 30 states and Puerto Rico were planning pavilions at the fair, and the New York State Pavilion was to be the largest of these structures. The pavilion was one of two structures that the New York state government would erect for the World's Fair, along with the New York State Theater in Manhattan. During the pavilion's development, New York governor Nelson Rockefeller sought to divert funds from the project to the New York State Theater, since the pavilion was originally supposed to be temporary. It was also one of several exhibit spaces in the World's Fair that focused on New York; there were also pavilions for New York City, the Port of New York Authority, and the Long Island Rail Road.
Five architects participated in an unofficial architectural design competition. Philip Johnson, who also designed the New York State Theater, was hired to design the pavilion in mid-1962. Johnson later stated that Rockefeller had personally selected him for the project. The Thompson–Starrett Company received the general contract for construction. At the time, the World's Fair Corporation had already created preliminary plans for structures on Block 46. Although the structures were initially meant to be temporary, Moses and Johnson had agreed to create a permanent theater for the site by June 1962. Another change to the original plans was the addition of observation towers, since Rockefeller wanted the New York State Pavilion to be the tallest structure in the fair. Initially, the World's Fair Corporation would not allow any structures higher than in the fair's federal and state section. After Johnson persisted, the corporation agreed in August 1962 to allow the New York State Pavilion to include taller structures.
Construction
Details of the New York State Pavilion were announced on October 8, 1962, when Rockefeller drove a deep foundation into the ground during a groundbreaking ceremony for the pavilion. The structure was to contain a Tent of Tomorrow for exhibits and events, a theater called Theaterama, and three observation towers. The state government allocated $11 million to the World's Fair, expecting to earn revenue by selling tickets to the pavilion's restaurants and observation deck. Officials estimated that the pavilion would have 12 million to 13 million visitors during the World's Fair, which was to last two years. Revisions to the design continued through early 1963, when the foundations were modified to allow the structures to remain standing for a longer period.In November 1962, fashion firms had asked the state government for permission to stage fashion exhibits in the Tent of Tomorrow, but there was initial uncertainty about whether these companies would use the New York State Pavilion or get their own pavilion. The state government allowed fashion companies from New York to use the pavilion in 1963, after Wilson asked the New York State Commission on the World's Fair to make space for the fashion exhibits. Wilson opposed the addition of some other exhibits, saying that he did not want to create a "Madame Tussaud's Waxworks" for attention. Joseph Love was hired to organize the fashion exhibits in the pavilion. Although Love reached out to 20,000 companies to determine their interest in the pavilion, only 50 companies had responded by the end of 1963.
Workers began pouring concrete for the observation towers' columns in June 1963, and the layout of the Tent of Tomorrow had been finalized by the middle of that year. Each column was built atop 50 deep foundations. Workers constructed the columns by pouring concrete around cylindrical forms that measured across and high. Civil rights groups protested the New York State Pavilion's construction in mid-1963, after a study found that only two of the 68 workers there were African Americans, and they sued in an attempt to halt construction. In October 1963, Johnson hired 10 avant-garde artists to create artwork for the Theaterama; the Hudson Valley Art Association characterized the art as "at best a farce". Simultaneously, the cable suspension roof of the Tent of Tomorrow was constructed at ground level, and workers began installing the roof panels before the roof was raised. The suspension roof was raised to the top of the tent's columns at the end of October, using jacks that lifted the roof at a time.
The flags of New York state and the U.S. were hoisted to the top of the highest observation tower at a ceremony in December 1963. The New York State Council on the Arts also announced plans for two art exhibits at the pavilion, one during each of the World's Fair's two operating seasons. By January 1964, the pavilion's predicted final cost had increased to $13.8 million. The New York State Legislature was reluctant to allocate a $4.6 million appropriation to complete the pavilion, but eventually granted the appropriation. The cost increases prompted an investigation from Louis J. Lefkowitz, the state's attorney general, who looked into the records of several hundred subcontractors.
World's Fair use
The Tent of Tomorrow hosted concerts, and it was one of two locations where fashion shows were staged. The main level had a restaurant, a fine arts exhibit, and a New York Power Authority exhibit. The tent's mezzanine showcased local museums' exhibits, a rose garden, exhibits on industries, and other aspects of New York state culture. There was also to be a restaurant themed to a farmers market. The three towers were used as an observation deck, a concession stand, and a dignitaries' lounge. The highest observation tower also had an exhibition by the State Legislature, with a suggestion box for laws; a machine with FAQs about the legislature; and a short film. The Theaterama displayed films that highlighted various visitor attractions in New York state, in addition to exhibits with art relating to the state. Corning Glass, General Electric, American Bridge Company, and Schweizer Aircraft were among the companies that exhibited at the pavilion.1964 season
Moses and Rockefeller formally opened the World's Fair on April 23, 1964. In his dedication speech, Rockefeller indicated that the pavilion might become a permanent fixture of the park; Moses also wanted the New York State and U.S. pavilions to be preserved. During the opening ceremony, hundreds of civil rights activists organized a sit-in at the pavilion and were arrested. During the 1964 season, the New York State Pavilion displayed a visual-art exhibit called The River: People and Places, with 50 works that represented the state's early history or early artists. More than 500 talent show performances were scheduled at the pavilion during the 1964 season. Many of these performances were grouped according to geographic location or cultural background, so that acts with a similar theme were performed on the same day. Thirteen fashion magazines staged shows on the Tent of Tomorrow's ramp.At the midpoint of the 1964 season that July, The New York Times reported that the New York State Pavilion was one of the fair's most popular exhibits. Admission to the Theaterama cost 25 cents each, while admission to the observation towers cost 50 cents for adults and 25 cents for children. In the Theaterama's first eight weeks of operation, 200,000 people paid to watch the short film there. By that August, nearly 1.4 million people had ridden the observation towers' elevators. The pavilion closed for the season on October 18, 1964. According to a National Park Service report, toward the end of the 1964 season, nearly one-quarter of all visitors to the World's Fair were recorded as having visited the New York State Pavilion, or about 55,000 people daily. The exhibit was reportedly the World's Fair's third-most-popular pavilion, which also made it a frequent location for civil rights protests.