The Marine Air Terminal (also known as Terminal A) is an

airport terminal An airport terminal is a building at an airport where passengers transfer between ground transportation and the facilities that allow them to board and disembark from an Fixed-wing aircraft, aircraft. Within the terminal, passengers purchase ...

located at

LaGuardia Airport LaGuardia Airport is a civil airport in East Elmhurst, Queens, New York City. Covering , the facility was established in 1929 and began operating as a public airport in 1939. It is named after former New York City mayor Fiorello La Guardia. ...

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. Its main building, designed in the

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

style by

William Delano William Adams Delano (January 21, 1874 – January 12, 1960), an American architect, was a partner with Chester Holmes Aldrich in the firm of Delano & Aldrich. The firm worked in the Beaux-Arts tradition for elite clients in New York City, Long ...

of the firm

Delano & Aldrich Delano & Aldrich was an American Beaux-Arts architectural firm based in New York City. Many of its clients were among the wealthiest and most powerful families in the state. Founded in 1903, the firm operated as a partnership until 1935, when Ald ...

, opened in 1940. The terminal was built to handle

Pan Am Pan American World Airways, originally founded as Pan American Airways and commonly known as Pan Am, was an American airline that was the principal and largest international air carrier and unofficial overseas flag carrier of the United States ...

's fleet of

flying boats A flying boat is a type of fixed-winged seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in that a flying boat's fuselage is purpose-designed for floatation and contains a hull, while floatplanes rely on fusela ...

, the

Boeing 314 Clipper The Boeing 314 Clipper was an American long-range flying boat produced by Boeing from 1938 to 1941. One of the largest aircraft of its time, it had the range to cross the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. For its wing, Boeing re-used the design fro ...

s, which landed on the nearby

Bowery Bay Bowery Bay is a bay off the East River in New York City. It is located near the Steinway neighborhood of Queens and is bordered on the west by the Bowery Bay Water Pollution Control Plant and on the south and east by LaGuardia Airport. Before ...

. Technological advances after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

made the Clippers obsolete, and the Marine Air Terminal was renovated in 1946 to serve conventional planes. , the terminal is used by

Spirit Airlines Spirit Airlines Inc. (stylized as spirit) is a major ultra-low-cost U.S. carrier headquartered in Miramar, Florida, in the Miami metropolitan area. Spirit operates scheduled flights throughout the United States, the Caribbean and Latin Ameri ...

flights to various destinations around the US. The Marine Air Terminal was LaGuardia Airport's original terminal for overseas flights. It was highly popular in the 1940s, when LaGuardia was the only major airport in the U.S. which offered regular flights to Europe. Traffic dropped drastically after the larger

Idlewild Airport John F. Kennedy International Airport (colloquially referred to as JFK Airport, Kennedy Airport, New York-JFK, or simply JFK) is the main international airport serving New York City. The airport is the busiest of the seven airports in the New ...

opened in 1948, and Clippers stopped serving the terminal in 1952. The terminal then served as the airport's

general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations with the exception of commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services ...

terminal for more than three decades, except for a short period in the 1950s, when it was used by

Northeast Airlines Northeast Airlines was an American airline based in Boston, Massachusetts that chiefly operated in the northeastern United States, and later to Canada, Florida, the Bahamas, Los Angeles and other cities. It was acquired by and merged into Del ...

. The Pan Am Shuttle service started operating from Marine Air Terminal in 1986.

Delta Air Lines Delta Air Lines, Inc., typically referred to as Delta, is one of the major airlines of the United States and a legacy carrier. One of the List of airlines by foundation date, world's oldest airlines in operation, Delta is headquartered in Atla ...

took over the service in 1991, operating

Delta Shuttle Delta Shuttle is the brand name for Delta Air Lines' air shuttle service in the Northeastern United States. History New York Air In 1980, airline industry entrepreneur Frank Lorenzo, through his holding company Texas Air Corporation, form ...

flights from the terminal until 2017, after which it was used by various carriers. The terminal has been renovated multiple times throughout its history. The main terminal building consists of a two-story circular core with a projecting entrance pavilion and a pair of two-story wings. The brick facade is painted

buff Buff or BUFF may refer to: People * Buff (surname), a list of people * Buff (nickname), a list of people * Johnny Buff, ring name of American world champion boxer John Lisky (1888–1955) * Buff Bagwell, a ring name of American professional wr ...

, with black details, and contains a

frieze In architecture, the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Paterae are also usually used to decorate friezes. Even when neither columns nor ...

that depicts flying fish. The three-story rectangular entrance pavilion contains a canopy and a set of doors leading to the terminal's main rotunda. The rotunda contains marble floors and walls, as well as the ''Flight'' mural by James Brooks. Both the interior and the exterior of the main building were declared

New York City Landmarks These are lists of New York City landmarks designated by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission: * New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan: ** List of New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan below 14th Street ** List o ...

in 1980, and it was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1982. In addition, there was a hangar for seaplanes next to the main building, which has been converted into a garage for snow-removal vehicles.

History

Following

Charles Lindbergh Charles Augustus Lindbergh (February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974) was an American aviator, military officer, author, inventor, and activist. On May 20–21, 1927, Lindbergh made the first nonstop flight from New York City to Paris, a distance o ...

's transatlantic flight in 1927, commercial air travel in the United States increased during the 1930s. New York City was in dire need of a new airport by 1934, after

Fiorello H. La Guardia Fiorello Henry LaGuardia (; born Fiorello Enrico LaGuardia, ; December 11, 1882September 20, 1947) was an American attorney and politician who represented New York in the House of Representatives and served as the 99th Mayor of New York City from ...

was elected mayor. Angered that a flight on which he was a passenger landed in

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area. The city did have a public airport,

Floyd Bennett Field Floyd Bennett Field is an airfield in the Marine Park neighborhood of southeast Brooklyn in New York City, along the shore of Jamaica Bay. The airport originally hosted commercial and general aviation traffic before being used as a naval air ...

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, but it was further from

Midtown Manhattan Midtown Manhattan is the central portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan and serves as the city's primary central business district. Midtown is home to some of the city's most prominent buildings, including the Empire State Buildin ...

than Newark Airport was. After commencing several studies on the feasibility of a new airport in New York City, the La Guardia administration decided to redevelop the existing North Beach Airport in

. The city government leased North Beach Airport in 1934.

Development

La Guardia's administration presented plans for a renovation of North Beach Airport (now

) in August 1937. The plans included a terminal for

seaplane A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of takeoff, taking off and water landing, landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their tec ...

s along

, on the western side of the airport, as well as a terminal for land planes along

Flushing Bay Flushing Bay is a tidal embayment in New York City. It is located on the south side of the East River and stretches to the south near the neighborhood of Flushing, Queens. It is bordered on the west by LaGuardia Airport and the Grand Central Parkw ...

, on the eastern side. The seaplane terminal, to be known as the Marine Air Terminal, was to contain four hangars, an administrative building, and a machine shop. The administrative building was to be a circular brick-and-steel edifice measuring tall and about across. A baggage check, customs and immigration offices, an

air traffic control tower Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled airsp ...

, and various other offices would be centered around a main waiting room, and there would be access ramps for seaplane passengers. The seaplane and land-plane terminals, both designed by the firm of

, would operate independently of each other. The

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, i ...

(WPA) would provide federal funding for the project. U.S. president

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

approved plans for the airport on September 3, 1937, and La Guardia participated in a

groundbreaking Groundbreaking, also known as cutting, sod-cutting, turning the first sod, or a sod-turning ceremony, is a traditional ceremony in many cultures that celebrates the first day of construction for a building or other project. Such ceremonies are o ...

ceremony for the airport six days later. The airport was originally projected to cost $15 million and be completed in time for the opening of the

1939 New York World's Fair The 1939–40 New York World's Fair was a world's fair held at Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Queens, New York, United States. It was the second-most expensive American world's fair of all time, exceeded only by St. Louis's Louisiana Purchas ...

. By July 1938, the WPA employed 7,800 workers on the project, and workers were expanding the airport site through

land reclamation Land reclamation, usually known as reclamation, and also known as land fill (not to be confused with a waste landfill), is the process of creating new land from oceans, seas, riverbeds or lake beds. The land reclaimed is known as reclamati ...

. The number of workers had increased to 11,500 by that November, and the cost had increased to $29 million. Prior to the opening of the seaplane terminal, in early 1939, ''The New York Times'' reported that flying boats from England, France, Germany, and the United States would be using the terminal. The terminal had been planned with two seaplane hangars, but only one hangar was built at the time; that hangar was nearly complete by April 1939. The expanded North Beach Airport opened on October 15, 1939, and was officially renamed the New York Municipal Airport–LaGuardia Field later that year. Covering with nearly of runways, the airport cost $40 million, making it the largest and most expensive in the world at that time. The seaplane terminal comprised $7.5 million of this cost, and the hangar alone cost $2 million. The land-plane section of the airport opened for commercial flights on December 2, 1939, but the completion of the marine terminal was delayed until March 1940. This was in part because construction in Bowery Bay had prevented seaplanes from landing there. Seaplanes instead traveled to bases in

Port Washington, New York Port Washington is a Hamlet (New York), hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) on the Cow Neck Peninsula in the North Hempstead, New York, Town of North Hempstead, in Nassau County, New York, Nassau County, on the North Shore (Long Island), No ...

, and in

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

Pan Am use

At a hearing before the

Civil Aeronautics Board The Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) was an agency of the federal government of the United States, formed in 1938 and abolished in 1985, that regulated aviation services including scheduled passenger airline serviceStringer, David H."Non-Skeds: Th ...

in April 1939,

Pan American Airways Pan American World Airways, originally founded as Pan American Airways and commonly known as Pan Am, was an American airline that was the principal and largest international air carrier and unofficial overseas flag carrier of the United States ...

indicated that it planned to use North Beach Airport as the main U.S. terminal for the transatlantic flights of its

s. Under this plan, Clippers would fly to Baltimore if there was bad weather in New York City. Pan Am leased the Marine Air Terminal from the New York City government the following month. Pan Am also allowed foreign airlines to use the terminal, including

Imperial Airways Imperial Airways was the early British commercial long-range airline, operating from 1924 to 1939 and principally serving the British Empire routes to South Africa, India, Australia and the Far East, including Malaya and Hong Kong. Passenger ...

Air France Air France (; formally ''Société Air France, S.A.''), stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the flag carrier of France headquartered in Tremblay-en-France. It is a subsidiary of the Air France–KLM Group and a founding member of the SkyTeam global air ...

, and

KLM KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, legally ''Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij N.V.'' (literal translation: Royal Aviation Company Plc.), is the flag carrier airline of the Netherlands. KLM is headquartered in Amstelveen, with its hub at nearby Amste ...

Opening and early years

The Marine Air Terminal officially opened on March 31, 1940, when a Clipper carrying ten crew members, nine passengers, and over 5,000 pounds (2,300 kg) of mail departed from the terminal. This flight landed in

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

, 18 hours and 35 minutes later, setting a record for an eastbound transatlantic Clipper flight. The first flying boat to arrive at the Marine Air Terminal arrived from Bermuda on April 1, 1940. At the time, the terminal served three transatlantic trips per week. A brochure distributed on the terminal's opening day proclaimed it as "an enduring terminal linking the air routes of the old world with those of the new". Originally, members of the public were allowed to visit the Marine Air Terminal's observation deck, which became a popular place to observe seaplane and airplane landings. The deck was closed for security reasons during World War II. In July 1940,

American Export Airlines American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

and city officials began discussing the possibility of constructing a second seaplane hangar next to the Marine Air Terminal. American Export wanted to operate a transatlantic passenger route from LaGuardia Airport, but Pan Am did not have any more space in its existing hangar. The

New York City Planning Commission The Department of City Planning (DCP) is the department of the government of New York City responsible for setting the framework of city's physical and socioeconomic planning. The department is responsible for land use and environmental review, p ...

approved the proposed hangar in April 1941, allocating $389,000 to the project. LaGuardia attended a groundbreaking ceremony for the second hangar on August 4, 1941, and work on the hangar began that December. James Brooks completed his ''Flight'' mural inside the main terminal building in September 1942. The following year, in April 1943, an expansion to the original Pan Am hangar was completed. By then, the Marine Air Terminal had more than one transatlantic trip per day. American Export's new hangar opened in July 1943, and the terminal's observation deck reopened in June 1945. A ''

New York Herald Tribune The ''New York Herald Tribune'' was a newspaper published between 1924 and 1966. It was created in 1924 when Ogden Mills Reid of the ''New-York Tribune'' acquired the ''New York Herald''. It was regarded as a "writer's newspaper" and competed ...

'' article in 1942 noted that Clipper flights came from as far as "Capetown, Lisbon, New Zealand, the Orient, Alaska and other remote places". During the Second World War, many soldiers would fly to Europe and Africa from the terminal, and political figures such as U.S. first lady

Eleanor Roosevelt Anna Eleanor Roosevelt () (October 11, 1884November 7, 1962) was an American political figure, diplomat, and activist. She was the first lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945, during her husband President Franklin D. Roosevelt's four ...

and British prime minister

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...

also flew from the terminal. Even so, the Marine Air Terminal lasted as a seaplane terminal for less than a decade. When the terminal opened, seaplanes were generally more technologically advanced than traditional land planes; the earliest four-engine aircraft, capable of flying long distances, had been seaplanes. However, they were also more prone to disruption, particularly during the winter months and in poor tidal conditions, when they could not operate. Land planes were not affected by these issues, and land-plane technology was also improving quickly. With the outbreak of

, new four-engine land planes were being developed, making these seaplanes obsolete. Pan Am stopped operating the 314s into the terminal in June 1945 but continued to operate other service into the terminal.

Use as international terminal

By the mid-1940s, the small capacity of LaGuardia Airport could not handle the increasing demand for international flights. Despite the obsolescence of seaplanes, LaGuardia Airport was the only major airport in the U.S. which offered regular flights to Europe. To address increasing congestion at the Marine Air Terminal, the city government and representatives of several airlines agreed in June 1946 to spend $50,000 on upgrading the customs facilities at the terminal. Although the terminal had begun to serve land planes, it could only fit one plane at a time, and passengers frequently had to wait three to four hours before passing through customs. The ''

Daily Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

'' wrote that the rotunda often saw as much traffic as a subway station during rush hours, with up to ten overseas flights trying to land nearly simultaneously at the busiest times. The Marine Air Terminal served 14 airlines; the overcrowded conditions had prompted one airline owner to purchase an old ferryboat and moor it next to the Marine Air Terminal. The improvements included the addition of a covered walkway, three gates for arriving passengers, and two gates for departing passengers. After the terminal reopened on November 7, 1946, it was renamed the International Air Terminal, serving all of LaGuardia's transatlantic flights. Meanwhile, Idlewild (now JFK) Airport was being built in southern Queens to accommodate international and transcontinental flights. The

Port of New York Authority The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, PANYNJ; stylized, in logo since 2020, as Port Authority NY NJ, is a joint venture between the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, established in 1921 through an interstate compact authorized b ...

took over operation of LaGuardia and Idlewild airports in June 1947. That September, Port Authority officials suggested extending one of LaGuardia's runways by infilling an unused plot of land next to the International Air Terminal. The terminal served 314,000 passengers a year in 1948, much more than what it had been built to accommodate. Air traffic at the terminal started to decline after Idlewild opened in 1948. The terminal was renamed the Overseas Terminal in August 1949 because passengers frequently confused it with Idlewild, which was formally known as New York International Airport. In the years after Idlewild opened, most transatlantic flights at the Overseas Terminal were moved over to Idlewild. The terminal had become empty most of the time, and Pan Am,

American Overseas Airlines American Overseas Airlines (AOA) was an airline that operated between the United States and Europe between 1945 and 1950. It was headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. History American Export Airlines (AEA), commonly known as Am E ...

, and

Trans World Airlines Trans World Airlines (TWA) was a major American airline which operated from 1930 until 2001. It was formed as Transcontinental & Western Air to operate a route from New York City to Los Angeles via St. Louis, Kansas City, and other stops, with F ...

were the only airlines still operating international flights from the terminal. Pan Am relocated most of its operations from the terminal in early 1951, and the last transatlantic flight from the Overseas Terminal departed on April 28, 1951. Afterward, only flights to Bermuda continued to operate out of Marine Air Terminal. These flights lasted for less than a year, and service from the Overseas Terminal ceased in February 1952. Around that time, the ''Flight'' mural in the terminal was painted over for reasons unknown even to James Brooks, the mural's own artist. Brooks did not learn that the mural had been painted over until after the fact.

1950s to 1970s

According to ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'', the terminal was "quickly forgotten" after Clipper service stopped. The terminal was used mostly by private planes, non-scheduled flights, and military transports for high-ranking government officials. U.S. presidents

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...

and

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination i ...

sometimes used the terminal when they landed at LaGuardia Airport. The terminal also contained the offices of flight simulation company FlightSafety, founded in 1951 by

Albert Lee Ueltschi Albert Lee Ueltschi (May 15, 1917 – October 18, 2012) is considered the father of modern flight training and was the founder of FlightSafety International. Ueltschi was once personal pilot to Juan Trippe and an associate to Charles Lindbergh. ...

. The Port Authority announced its plans to renovate most of LaGuardia Airport in 1957, but Marine Air Terminal was excluded from these plans. The terminal reopened for commercial aviation on June 27, 1957, when

leased the terminal for its shuttle services between New York and Boston. Private, non-scheduled, and military flights continued to use the terminal. That October, Northeast relocated Boston flights to LaGuardia's domestic terminal and started using the Marine Air Terminal for its flights to Florida. The swap took place because Gate 11 at the domestic terminal was too small for the four-engine DC-6Bs that were used on the Florida flights. Pan Am moved some of its remaining equipment from the Marine Air Terminal to Idlewild in 1958. By then, the Marine Air Terminal was no longer an important part of LaGuardia's operation; only five percent of the airport's 5.4 million passengers in 1959 came through the terminal. ''The New York Times'' described the terminal in 1960 as having "an air of decay and desolation", with a dirty skylight, broken equipment, peeling paint, and almost no passengers. In 1964, American Hydrofoils agreed to operate a shuttle

hydrofoil A hydrofoil is a lifting surface, or foil, that operates in water. They are similar in appearance and purpose to aerofoils used by aeroplanes. Boats that use hydrofoil technology are also simply termed hydrofoils. As a hydrofoil craft gains sp ...

service from the Marine Air Terminal to East 25th Street and

Pier 11/Wall Street Pier 11/Wall Street is a pier providing slips to ferries and excursion boats on the East River in the Port of New York and New Jersey. It is located east of South Street and FDR Drive just south of Wall Street in Lower Manhattan, New York City ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

. After the

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic m ...

banned non-scheduled airlines from operating regular flights and selling tickets in the 1960s, the Marine Air Terminal sat nearly empty for several years. The Butler Aviation Company, which managed LaGuardia's

operations, had divided the walkway adjoining the terminal into a waiting room and an office, and there was a pilots' lounge next to the walkway. Butler leased the terminal and spent $200,000 to renovate the eastern portion of the main building. Following the renovation, the Marine Air Terminal reopened in October 1966 as a general aviation terminal. At the time, there were 400 daily general aviation flights at LaGuardia, about half of the airport's daily air traffic. The terminal was then known as Butler Marine Air Terminal. The main building's rotunda was repainted in the 1960s and was again supposed to be repainted in the 1970s. Aviation historian Geoffrey Arend advocated for the restoration of the ''Flight'' mural in the main building's rotunda starting in 1976. A reporter for ''

The Christian Science Monitor ''The Christian Science Monitor'' (''CSM''), commonly known as ''The Monitor'', is a nonprofit news organization that publishes daily articles in electronic format as well as a weekly print edition. It was founded in 1908 as a daily newspaper ...

'' wrote in 1979 that some of the main building's original Art Deco details remained, mainly on the exterior. That February, philanthropist

Laurance Rockefeller Laurance Spelman Rockefeller (May 26, 1910 – July 11, 2004) was an American businessman, financier, philanthropist, and conservationist. Rockefeller was the third son and fourth child of John D. Rockefeller Jr. and Abby Aldrich Rockefeller. As ...

and magazine publisher

DeWitt Wallace William Roy DeWitt Wallace; (November 12, 1889 – March 30, 1981), publishing as DeWitt Wallace, was an American magazine publisher. Wallace co-founded ''Reader's Digest'' with his wife Lila Bell Wallace, publishing the first issue in 1922. Lif ...

agreed to partially fund the restoration of the ''Flight'' mural, which was projected to cost $75,000. Alan M. Farancz restored the mural, and it was rededicated on September 19, 1980. During that time, the

New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) is the New York City agency charged with administering the city's Landmarks Preservation Law. The LPC is responsible for protecting New York City's architecturally, historically, and cu ...

(LPC) considered protecting the terminal as an official New York City landmark Arend supported the designation, but the Port Authority expressed opposition because such a designation would severely restrict what the agency could do with the terminal. The LPC designated the main building's facade and a portion of its interior as landmarks in late 1980, citing it as "the only active terminal in the United States dating from the first generation of passenger air travel". The main building was also listed on the

on July 9, 1982.

Shuttle use

Pan Am Shuttle

Pan Am announced plans for its Pan Am Shuttle service from New York to Boston and Washington in 1986, having bought the rights to

New York Air New York Air was a low-cost U.S. airline owned by Texas Air Corporation and based at Hangar 5 at LaGuardia Airport in Flushing, Queens, New York. It ceased operations on February 1, 1987, in a merger with Continental Airlines. New York Air ...

's shuttle service. The airline had initially planned to operate from two gates at the main terminal, but these gates were too small to fit the

Boeing 727 The Boeing 727 is an American narrow-body airliner that was developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. After the heavy 707 quad-jet was introduced in 1958, Boeing addressed the demand for shorter flight lengths from smaller airpo ...

and

Airbus A300 The Airbus A300 is a wide-body airliner developed and manufactured by Airbus. In September 1967, aircraft manufacturers in the United Kingdom, France, and West Germany signed a memorandum of understanding to develop a large airliner. West G ...

airliners that would be used on the route, so Pan Am had to build new gates at the Marine Air Terminal. Construction of these gates began at the end of August 1986. Pan Am spent $23 million to build a prefabricated structure next to the main building. The structure was completed in 41 days, as Pan Am was contractually obligated to begin shuttle flights by October 1986. Local politicians and preservationists were irate at the changes. Days before the renovations were to be completed, several politicians attempted to halt the project, claiming that the Port Authority had illegally modified the portion of the terminal that had been designated as a landmark. Port Authority executives said they were only renovating a portion of the building that was not protected by the landmark designation. Rocco Manniello, who operated a small Italian restaurant at the rear of the main building, renovated his restaurant during this time. Pan Am Shuttle flights started operating from the Marine Air Terminal on October 1, 1986. The terminal was relatively remote, being about from the other buildings at LaGuardia Airport. Taxicabs had to take a circuitous route to access the terminal, and taxi drivers were hesitant to pick up passengers at the terminal, prompting Pan Am to sponsor giveaways for taxi drivers who drove there. As a result, the shuttle was initially unable to compete with

Eastern Air Lines Eastern Air Lines, also colloquially known as Eastern, was a major United States airline from 1926 to 1991. Before its dissolution, it was headquartered at Miami International Airport in an unincorporated area of Miami-Dade County, Florida. Ea ...

, which carried the majority of passengers who flew between New York and Boston. To attract passengers, Pan Am started operating a ferry line between Wall Street and the terminal in August 1987. This improved ridership to the point that Pan Am Shuttle was one of the airline's only profitable routes. Pan Am also opened a club for business flyers within the terminal. Nonetheless, by 1990, Pan Am sought to sell the shuttle.

Delta Shuttle

acquired the Pan Am Shuttle from Pan Am in 1991 and started operating the

from the Marine Air Terminal using Boeing 727-200s. Delta also inherited the ferry route to Manhattan, which was unprofitable despite receiving large subsidies from Delta. By 1995, the Port Authority was considering restoring the facade and interior of the terminal's main building. Architectural firm

Beyer Blinder Belle Beyer Blinder Belle Architects & Planners LLP (BBB) is an international architecture firm. It is based in New York City and has an additional office in Washington, DC. The firm's name is derived from the three founding partners: John H. Beyer, Ri ...

was hired to restore the terminal building to its original design, including light fixtures, canopies, and signage, at a cost of $600,000. A bust of Fiorello La Guardia was relocated from the airport's main terminal to the Marine Air Terminal in 1997. Harbor Shuttle, which operated ferry service from the Marine Air Terminal to Manhattan, was sold in 1998 to

NY Waterway NY Waterway (or New York Waterway) is a private transportation company running ferry and bus service in the Port of New York and New Jersey and in the Hudson Valley. The company utilizes public-private partnership with agencies such as the Port ...

, which discontinued the service in 2000. The Port Authority unsuccessfully attempted to revive the ferry service in subsequent years. Delta started renovating the terminal in early 1998 at a cost of $7.5 million. The Marine Air Terminal formally reopened in November 1999 with a new business center and concession stands. At the time, 80 percent of passengers at the terminal were business travelers, and about 6,000 of the airport's 65,000 daily passengers used the terminal. Following this renovation, most passengers were diverted past the main terminal building. The Port Authority spent about $6.5 million to restore the terminal in 2004, ahead of the 65th anniversary of the airport's first commercial flight. As part of the project, all of the tiles in the main building's frieze were removed for restoration. LaGuardia's general manager at the time called it the "crown jewel of the airport". Delta added a business center to the terminal in 2006. The Port Authority voted to install vehicular bollards in front of the terminal in 2007 due to security concerns following the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...

. In 2009, it was announced as part of a slot-swap transaction that Delta Air Lines would relocate to LaGuardia's Central Terminal, while

US Airways US Airways (formerly USAir) was a major United States airline that operated from 1937 until its merger with American Airlines in 2015. It was originally founded in History of aviation in Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh as a mail delivery airline called ...

would start operating its

US Airways Shuttle US Airways Shuttle was the brand name for US Airways' hourly air shuttle service operating in the Northeastern United States. It served Logan International Airport in Boston, LaGuardia Airport in New York City, and Ronald Reagan Washington Nation ...

out of the Marine Air Terminal. The swap would have allowed Delta to operate hourly flights between LaGuardia and

O'Hare International Airport Chicago O'Hare International Airport , sometimes referred to as, Chicago O'Hare, or simply O'Hare, is the main international airport serving Chicago, Illinois, located on the city's Northwest Side, approximately northwest of the Chicago Loop, ...

. The proposed swap between US Airways and Delta never took place. Delta Shuttle continued to operate from the Marine Air Terminal until December 8, 2017. Meanwhile, in 2010, the

New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

introduced a pilot program that allowed Delta Shuttle passengers to share a taxicab between the Marine Air Terminal and Manhattan, but this program was unpopular.

LaGuardia redevelopment

In 2015, New York governor

Andrew Cuomo Andrew Mark Cuomo ( ; ; born December 6, 1957) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 56th governor of New York from 2011 to 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected to the same position that his father, Mario Cuo ...

and then-vice president Joe Biden announced a $4 billion plan to rebuild most of LaGuardia's terminals as one contiguous building. The Marine Air Terminal was preserved as part of the plan because it was an official landmark. On December 9, 2017, as part of the LaGuardia redevelopment, Delta Air Lines ceased shuttle operations out of the Marine Air Terminal, moving back to Terminal C. Alaska Airlines and JetBlue relocated their operations from Terminal B to the Marine Air Terminal. Alaska Airlines ended all service from LaGuardia Airport on October 27, 2018. JetBlue used the Marine Air Terminal for flights to

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Orlando Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures rele ...

Fort Lauderdale A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

, and

West Palm Beach West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sunset, Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic languages, German ...

. The airline renovated the terminal as part of a project completed in early 2019. On April 28, 2021,

started service in the Marine Air Terminal for its flights to Fort Lauderdale, although the airline's other destinations were still located in Terminal C. Spirit moved its remaining LaGuardia services to the Marine Air Terminal the following March. JetBlue moved all operations to Terminal B on July 9, 2022, after having previously split its operations between Terminal B and the Marine Air Terminal.

Main building

The Marine Air Terminal, also known as Terminal A, is at the western end of LaGuardia Airport in

, New York City, along the southern shore of Bowery Bay. The terminal was designed in the

style by

of the firm Delano & Aldrich. It is LaGuardia Airport's only remaining structure from the 1940s; the other buildings from that era had also been designed in the Art Deco style.

Landside An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface ...

access to the main terminal building is via Marine Terminal Road, which ends at a turnaround directly in front of the building. This turnaround is served by the buses, as well as the LaGuardia Airport shuttle bus. Originally, the terminal was accessed by 85th Street, a boulevard planted with hedges. Parking lot P10 is located next to the terminal.

Exterior

The terminal's main building is a circular two-story structure flanked by a pair of one-story wings facing northwest and northeast toward Bowery Bay. The main building is approached by a triple-height rectangular pavilion facing south. The entrance pavilion and the rear wings were all intended as access points into the central core, which housed the primary functions of the terminal. The brick facade was originally painted

with black details but, by the 1980s, had been repainted beige with brown details. The buff and black color scheme has since been restored. A horizontal band runs across the facade between the first and second stories. The terminal's windows are largely oriented horizontally, rather than vertically as in other Art Deco structures; this may be attributed to the fact that the terminal was completed later than other Art Deco buildings and is also relatively short. The circular core measures across. It contains a setback above the ground story, which makes it appear as though it is designed in a

wedding-cake style In architecture, a wedding-cake style is an informal reference to buildings with many distinct tiers, each set back from the one below, resulting in a shape like a wedding cake, and may also apply to buildings that are richly ornamented, as if ma ...

. There are dark brick window frames on the ground and second stories, which surround groups of tripartite windows. Faceted brick panels are placed between each group of windows, and there were originally grilles over the windows themselves. A

cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, around the top edge of a ...

of stainless steel, as well as a parapet and a rooftop balcony, run above the ground story. The rooftop balcony originally contained two observation decks. In addition, the second story is topped by a terracotta

, which depicts yellow flying fish against a background of light and dark blue waves. The frieze contains 2,200 individual tiles. A similar motif was also used on several of Delano and Aldrich's other structures. There is an attic with a facade of stainless steel panels, as well as a control tower at the rear of the attic. Marine Air Terminal, LaGuardia, corner

The three-story rectangular entrance pavilion is flanked by two shorter sections. The entrance, at the center of this pavilion, consists of a doorway with four stainless steel doors, which are topped by

transom Transom may refer to: * Transom (architecture), a bar of wood or stone across the top of a door or window, or the window above such a bar * Transom (nautical), that part of the stern of a vessel where the two sides of its hull meet * Operation Tran ...

panels depicting a pair of winged globes. A curving stainless-steel canopy extends in front of these doors, and a double-height window is placed above the canopy. The double-height window and the doorway are the same width and are both surrounded by a band of dark bricks. Steel

mullion A mullion is a vertical element that forms a division between units of a window or screen, or is used decoratively. It is also often used as a division between double doors. When dividing adjacent window units its primary purpose is a rigid supp ...

s divide the window into a grid measuring four panes across and five panes high. The shorter sections of the pavilion contain small windows at ground level. The terracotta frieze around the circular core also runs atop the shorter sections of the entrance. The rear wings measure across. They are similar in design to the circular core. Passengers boarded seaplanes from the northwest wing and arrived through the northeast wing. There was a copper canopy above the walkway leading to the northeast wing. A corridor, flanked by waiting rooms, extended from the northeast wing to a landing float in Bowery Bay. Originally,

flying boat A flying boat is a type of fixed-winged seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in that a flying boat's fuselage is purpose-designed for floatation and contains a hull, while floatplanes rely on fusela ...

s and other

s typically taxied to the landing float, where they were pulled by a small motor boat to allow passengers to disembark into the terminal. Marine aircraft could approach the terminal via six operating channels in the bay, each measuring . The modern Terminal A leads to gates A1 through A8.

Interior

The four stainless-steel doors at the main entrance pavilion lead to a foyer with four doors of identical design, topped by transom panels depicting winged globes. Past the foyer are staircases with stainless-steel railings, as well as another set of five stainless-steel doors. These lead into a two-story rotunda with a skylight at the third story. The staircase around the rotunda could be seen from outside. The rotunda contains light-gray marble floors with a circular geometric pattern at the center of the floor. The rotunda contains wooden benches, the ends of which contain stainless-steel arms that depict propeller blades. The lower section of the wall is made of dark-green marble. This wall is divided into 14

bays A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a gulf, sea, sound, or bight. A cove is a small, circular bay with a narr ...

, which contain ticketing offices, stores, and other functions. These bays are arranged into groups of four or five, with each group being separated by the doors to the west, east, and south. A band of stainless steel runs above the wall at the ground story, separating it from the ''Flight'' mural on the upper section of the wall. The rotunda's ceiling steps upward from the perimeter of the room to the skylight at the center. On the second story, surrounding the rotunda, were various offices for the terminal's staff, including radio technicians, communications workers, and meteorologists. In addition, there were turnstiles on the second and third stories for members of the public who wanted to observe the Clippers. The main building's control tower contained radio equipment for monitoring seaplane landings and takeoffs in Bowery Bay.

Mural

Inside the rotunda hangs ''Flight,'' a mural measuring tall and long. Completed by James Brooks in 1942, ''Flight'' depicts the history of man's involvement with flight. It was the largest mural created as part of the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

-era

(WPA). The mural is roughly divided into two sections. The first section depicts early

history of aviation The history of aviation extends for more than two thousand years, from the earliest forms of aviation such as kites and attempts at tower jumping to supersonic and hypersonic flight by powered, heavier-than-air jets. Kite flying in Chin ...

, including prehistoric humans' inability to fly; the Greek myth of

Icarus In Greek mythology, Icarus (; grc, Ἴκαρος, Íkaros, ) was the son of the master craftsman Daedalus, the architect of the labyrinth of Crete. After Theseus, king of Athens and enemy of Minos, escaped from the labyrinth, King Minos suspe ...

, who flew too close to the sun and got burned; and the flight-related inventions of

Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 14522 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, Drawing, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially res ...

. The second section depicts the modern history of aviation, starting with the Wright brothers' test flights and ending with modern

transatlantic flight A transatlantic flight is the flight of an aircraft across the Atlantic Ocean from Europe, Africa, South Asia, or the Middle East to North America, Central America, or South America, or ''vice versa''. Such flights have been made by fixed-wing air ...

s. The mural hangs on the upper section of the wall, just below the ceiling. ''Flight'' was completely painted over in 1952. It is unknown why this was done; ''The Wall Street Journal'' said it may have been due to anti-communist sentiment, but LaGuardia operations chief Anthony Cycovek said the rotunda had begun to look dingy when the mural was painted over. The mural was only rediscovered in 1973, after Cycovek mentioned it to a Port of New York Authority executive who had heard of the National Fine Arts Inventory Project, a program dedicated to finding lost works of government-commissioned art. In the late 1970s, Geoffrey Arend, an aviation historian and author of ''Great Airports: LaGuardia'', mounted a campaign to restore the mural to its original splendor. The mural was rededicated on September 18, 1980.

Grace Glueck Grace Glueck (July 24, 1926 – October 8, 2022) was an American arts journalist. She worked for ''The New York Times'' from 1951 until the early 2010s. Early life Glueck was born in New York City on July 24, 1926. Her father, Ernest, worked a ...

of ''The New York Times'' described it as "the most egregious case of mural censorship" of a WPA mural in New York City. By 2022, ''Flight'' had been restored again as part of the LaGuardia redevelopment.

Seaplane hangar

When LaGuardia Airport was built in the 1930s, two seaplane

hangar A hangar is a building or structure designed to hold aircraft or spacecraft. Hangars are built of metal, wood, or concrete. The word ''hangar'' comes from Middle French ''hanghart'' ("enclosure near a house"), of Germanic origin, from Frankish ...

s adjacent to the main building were planned. Initially, only one hangar was built. The hangar had five sides and resembled a half-octagon from above. The north and south sides of the hangar each measured wide; the northwest and southwest sides were each wide; and the west side was wide. The hangar had four openings through which seaplanes and flying boats could enter. These openings measured high. In addition, the roof of the hangar measured high and was held up by trusses extending from a central pillar. A tunnel connected the hangar to the main building. Next to the hangar were ramps with floodlights, as well as

taxiway A taxiway is a path for aircraft at an airport connecting runways with aprons, hangars, terminals and other facilities. They mostly have a hard surface such as asphalt or concrete, although smaller general aviation airports sometimes use gravel ...

s illuminated by lamps. There were also 18 large gasoline tanks next to the hangar, each with a capacity of . Whenever the Clippers needed maintenance, they could be pulled out of the water, moved onto a set of tracks, and towed to the hangar. The tracks were made of concrete and could accommodate aircraft weighing up to , or about five times as heavy as an empty Boeing 314. After the Clippers stopped serving the Marine Air Terminal, the hangar was used to store maintenance vehicles, as well as for LaGuardia Airport's executive offices. , the hangar still exists and is known as Hangar 7. The

Port Authority of New York and New Jersey The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, PANYNJ; stylized, in logo since 2020, as Port Authority NY NJ, is a joint venture between the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, established in 1921 through an interstate compact authorized ...

uses the structure as a garage for the airport's snow-removal vehicles. The roof of the hangar contains ''Spirit of Flight'', a sculpture of a bird whose wingspan measures wide. The sculpture was formerly placed atop the roof of LaGuardia's Domestic Terminal, which was razed in 1963.

References

Citations

Sources

* * * *

External links

Aviation: From Sand Dunes to Sonic Booms, a National Park Service ''Discover Our Shared Heritage'' Travel Itinerary
* {{National Register of Historic Places in New York 1939 establishments in New York City Airport terminals Airports established in 1939 Art Deco airports Art Deco architecture in Queens, New York Aviation in New York City Buildings and structures completed in 1939 Buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in New York City Delano & Aldrich buildings East Elmhurst, Queens Historic American Engineering Record in New York City LaGuardia Airport National Register of Historic Places in Queens, New York New York City Designated Landmarks in Queens, New York New York City interior landmarks Streamline Moderne architecture in New York City Transportation buildings and structures in Queens, New York Works Progress Administration in New York City

History

Development

Pan Am use

Opening and early years

Use as international terminal

1950s to 1970s

Shuttle use

Pan Am Shuttle

Delta Shuttle

LaGuardia redevelopment

Main building

Exterior

Interior

Mural

Seaplane hangar

See also

References

Citations

Sources

External links