Abandoned... NY State Pavilion

Mike Caprio: 7th Dec 2007 - 21:44 GMT

I think the structure is actually located here on Google Maps:

40.74365407345206,-73.8443711400032

Peter: 7th Dec 2007 - 21:46 GMT

indeed. it is right here (satellite photo):
maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&time=&date=&ttype=&q=40.74365407345206,-73.8443711400032&ie=UTF8&ll=40.743654,-73.844371&spn=0.001195,0.00195&t=h&z=19&om=1

procyon: 7th Dec 2007 - 23:12 GMT

Mmm, that is some nice color on the second one.

Franny Wentzel: 8th Dec 2007 - 07:32 GMT

1964/5 NY Worlds Fair site.

www.nywf64.com/index.htm

There's talk of converting the NYS pavilion into an Air & Space museum.

Rael OneCloud: 8th Dec 2007 - 11:02 GMT

Yes! This is one of my favourite buildings ever...
did you know back in the 80s you could still walk through it?
It has the most amazing echo if you stand in the center. Me and my friends would go there and shout at the sky, or play music.

iman: 8th Dec 2007 - 18:59 GMT

that place is a historical landmark, they should just leave it the way it is

procyon: 8th Dec 2007 - 22:58 GMT

If they leave it the way it is, it will fall down, possibly on someone, within a few decades.
Some people suspect the Parks Department is hoping for exactly that, so they'll have an excuse to tear it down.

FailsToExist: 10th Dec 2007 - 16:26 GMT

I was always fascinated by this, and by the pavillion you posted above, when we went to visit my grandparents in Queens. they've since moved and we don't drive by them anymore...but I totally miss them. thanks for posting. :)

Veijukka: 10th Dec 2007 - 16:27 GMT

I love the first two...particularly the form and colors in the second one. Somehow very otherworldly.

Shoot the Moon: 10th Dec 2007 - 16:28 GMT

Passing this & the Unisphere is one of those markers that I'm finally back home. But it is a somewhat sad structure when you hear all the stories from your parents and grandparents about how fabulous the Fair was and all. It's definitely one of those fabulous lil pieces o history.

loli cat: 10th Dec 2007 - 16:29 GMT

I live in the midwest but if I was ever in NYC that's been on top of my list of places to visit thanks to Men In Black...I've wanted to see how
it looked in real life compared to the movie. Thanks for satisfying my curiosity!! ^0^

Poulet: 10th Dec 2007 - 16:30 GMT

I've often driven by this and always wondered what it was. Now I know! Plus, the pictures are great.

Rael O.: 10th Dec 2007 - 16:45 GMT

Yes! This is one of my favourite buildings ever... did you know back in the 80s you could still walk through it? It has the most amazing echo if you stand in the center. Me and my friends would go there and shout at the sky, or play music.

Peter: 10th Dec 2007 - 16:52 GMT

procyon: interesting observation about the parks department... frankly, i was surprised at how easy it was to just walk right into the place. i mean, theres a fence, but it has several door-sized holes/flaps cut/pried into it, and you can literally just waltz right in. and signage? besides the two fading "danger, keep out" signs, i didnt see any other signs, and was surprised to not see the official-looking (and forboding) "no trespassing" signs (denoting clauses and public code which might apply to would-be trespassers that you see, very liberally plastered, on almost every other city-owned ruin), which almost made it seem like they were saying "oficially, we'd rather you not enter, but we really dont care enough to stop you, hinder you, or even try to scare you away from entering".

its interesting. i really want to go back and snap more photos, and get deeper into the structure. i wasnt really dressed/prepared for it last time, and sort of just stepped in on a whim and snapped a few photos and stepped out quickly, as there were plenty of people around, and it was in the middle of a saturday afternoon, heh...

yas: 15th Dec 2007 - 19:04 GMT

saw this driving through queens once. i can't even wait to explore it a bit farther. i do wonder, why was there only ever one world's fair? shouldn't there have been many, like every year? it strikes me as odd that they built this magnificent structure for one event, and then let it go.

Herman from Elmhurst: 4th Sep 2008 - 02:41 GMT

I used to roller skate in there. My dad told me stories of going up to the cafe and observation deck. It's always been my fantasy of restoring it to it's original state with a few extras. :)

medicalfools: 30th Sep 2008 - 23:28 GMT

"procyon: Some people suspect the Parks Department is hoping for exactly that, so they'll have an excuse to tear it down."

this is BS. i know for a fact that higher-ups within the parks dept. loves this thing -- there's really just no budget to maintain it, let alone completely renovate it. a project like that would probably require some sort of federal attention.

procyon: 1st Oct 2008 - 02:30 GMT

Medicalfools: I also know that some higher-ups want the best for it--someone posted a letter to that effect from Dorothy Lewandowski elsewhere on citynoise, and I recently read that they've started applying for a spot on the National Register of Historic Places for the State Pavilion so they can become eligible to apply for certain grants to fix it.
That doesn't change the fact that _some_ people who like the building do (I think to some extent in a frustratedly-joking manner) suspect _some_ people in the department of wishing it would just go away--I don't live in New York City and I'm not an urban historian at anything more than the very most amateur level, so I don't presume to know whether the Parks Department has done everything it could have in the past or not.
From what little I know I'm inclined to side with those who feel it hasn't (though this doesn't mean I actually think they want to surreptitiously bulldoze it Daley-style, and, furthermore, whether architectural preservation should be a high budget priority for an organization whose purpose is to provide recreation opportunities for a city's residents is another debate entirely), but I'm excited that there seem to be at least a good handful of people there who want to do what they can for it now. Here's hoping they can get the grants to fix it up or at least hold it steady until some bajillionaire futurism/Johnson/modernism/World's Fair enthusiast (and/or some party with a profitable use for it) can pay to restore it.

AP: 18th Dec 2008 - 17:36 GMT

I love that. Thanks for posting. I should make a pilgrimage before they raze it, since I'm in the NY metro area. I had no idea that existed. I know this pavilion is from the 1964 world's fair and the scene I'm thinking of was in the abandoned buildings of the 1939 World's Fair, but it reminds me of that beautiful part in Kavalier and Clay when they break into the Perisphere. That would be a good passage to post about abandoned places! I love that book, and that part in particular is so moving.

Lund Photo: 18th Dec 2008 - 21:07 GMT

I'm sorry, in it's current state I can't find the appeal in this 'building'?

I'm from Seattle, and the Space Needle from the '62 World Fair, is alive and strong as ever here..

Peter: 18th Dec 2008 - 21:36 GMT

appeal? this is just a document of what sorry state its fallen into since being abandoned.

Duchess: 18th Dec 2008 - 21:52 GMT

it's always a little horrifying to see the amount of money thrown at these things, then just abandoned afterwards...

Lund Photo: 18th Dec 2008 - 23:37 GMT

If you wish to edit my comment, please just delete it totally!

Editor: 19th Dec 2008 - 00:50 GMT

Or, you know, you could learn to post photos properly so that they dont crash the page so bad that they have to be deleted. Just a thought... you might want to look here if you need help.

Franny Wentzel: 13th Jan 2009 - 03:36 GMT

NY State pavilion in better days...

Nancy Coleman Dann: 20th Feb 2009 - 06:41 GMT

There is a little round building next to this main structure that was called the Theatrama. During the Fair it showed a 360 degree in the round,movie about NY State. My father Harry Coleman, produced it. There were 6 projectors and the audience stood in the middle, surrounded 360 with images as if they were in the middle. The filming used a rig with 6 cameras, filmed with a remote control system. I worked with him and the crew for 6 months, when the film was ready and the Fair opened. It was amazing.

Nancy Coleman Dann: 20th Feb 2009 - 06:41 GMT

There is a little round building next to this main structure that was called the Theatrama. During the Fair it showed a 360 degree in the round,movie about NY State. My father Harry Coleman, produced it. There were 6 projectors and the audience stood in the middle, surrounded 360 with images as if they were in the middle. The filming used a rig with 6 cameras, filmed with a remote control system. I worked with him and the crew for 6 months, when the film was ready and the Fair opened. It was amazing.

Nancy Coleman Dann: 20th Feb 2009 - 06:41 GMT

There is a little round building next to this main structure that was called the Theatrama. During the Fair it showed a 360 degree in the round,movie about NY State. My father Harry Coleman, produced it. There were 6 projectors and the audience stood in the middle, surrounded 360 with images as if they were in the middle. The filming used a rig with 6 cameras, filmed with a remote control system. I worked with him and the crew for 6 months, when the film was ready and the Fair opened. It was amazing.

Nancy Coleman Dann: 20th Feb 2009 - 06:41 GMT

There is a little round building next to this main structure that was called the Theatrama. During the Fair it showed a 360 degree in the round,movie about NY State. My father Harry Coleman, produced it. There were 6 projectors and the audience stood in the middle, surrounded 360 with images as if they were in the middle. The filming used a rig with 6 cameras, filmed with a remote control system. I worked with him and the crew for 6 months, when the film was ready and the Fair opened. It was amazing.