by Liz Rhoades, Managing Editor - March 04, 2004
A plan to stabilize the New York State Pavilion from the 1964 World’s Fair is one step closer, as a successful fundraising campaign continues for Flushing Meadows Park.
A dinner to celebrate the 65th anniversary of the 1939 World’s Fair and the 40th anniversary of the 1964 World’s Fair will be held on April 15th in Terrace on the Park. The dinner will honor Deputy Mayor Daniel Doctoroff, former Borough President Claire Shulman and Fred Wilpon, owner of the New York Mets.
With only six weeks left, organizers met on Tuesday at the catering facility to finalize plans. Billy McDermott, journal chairman, announced that 702 out of 1,000 tickets have been sold for the event.
“Estelle Cooper wanted to raise $300,000 but now we can net that amount. She is hoping for even more,” he said.
Cooper, assistant Parks commissioner with headquarters in Flushing Meadows Park, is organizing the event through her group, Unisphere, a non-profit organization formed to raise money for the park.
It was also announced that tickets must be ordered by April 2nd and journal ads by March 15th. Tickets are $275. For information, call 718-760-6565. For information on putting an ad in the journal, call Donna Anselmo at 631-862-7371.
The decaying New York State Pavilion still stands as a landmark of the fair near the Long Island Expressway and is best known for being featured in the first “Men In Black” movie.
Built at a cost of $12 million by noted architect Philip Johnson, the pavilion features two large towers and a smaller one plus the Tent of Tomorrow, the large, circular open-air structure, which originally featured multi-colored Plexiglas tiles as a roof but have since fallen off.
Then
The pavilion was the tallest structure at the fair with one of the towers reaching 226 feet. It also featured the world’s biggest suspension roof, in the Tent of Tomorrow area, supported by 16 100-foot concrete columns.
Next to the tent was the Theaterama (now restored as Queens Theatre in the Park) that was used during the fair as a movie theatre. Inside the open area was a large map of New York State on the floor. Cooper, through Unisphere, is trying to get a grant to restore it.
After the fair closed, the open area served for a time as a roller skating rink but for many years, it has been fenced off. Cooper said it would be too expensive to replace the Plexiglas tiles above that area.
During the fair, exhibits and performances were held in the Tent of Tomorrow while the towers were used as observation decks that included refreshment stands.
Over the years, Parks Department studies have shown that the open pavilion area is slowly deteriorating because wood pilings were used. The two towers are more secure because they have steel pilings.
Now
Money raised at the gala will go towarda feasibility study on how best to repair and stabilize the structure and for youth programs in the park. The estimated cost of restoring the pavilion is $1 million.
As part of the fundraising efforts, Unisphere will be selling bricks from the former Aquacade, a 1939 World’s Fair building that was torn down a few years ago near Meadow Lake. They will be sold at the dinner for $139 and will include a wooden stand.
The group is also looking to sell regular bricks to form a pathway from the Unisphere to the tennis center. The cost has not yet been announced.
From The Queens Chronicle
