Worldport Pan Am Terminal
Photo by Jon Proctor via Wikimedia Commons

In the Jet Age, the world’s most famous architects were designing terminals for John F. Kennedy Airport. Many of these buildings would not have the same luck as the TWA Flight Center, the iconic, landmarked terminal that will be turned into a hotel after years of preservation activism and support from inside the Port Authority. It may come as surprise that airline companies have control over the fate of historical buildings, but such is the nature of airport architecture, which is perpetually looking forward to accommodating the new trends and demands of jet travel.

Like in the demolitions of Pennsylvania Station and the renovation of Grand Central Terminal, travel must continue undisrupted in any renovation or construction. In January 2023, the oldest existing terminal at JFK Aiport, Terminal 2 opened in 1962, closed and was slated for demolition to make way for a New Terminal One. For a period of time, new and old often sit by side at airports offering passengers and flight industry members a chance to reflect. Here are the lost terminals at JFK Airport:

1. Worldport Terminal, Terminal 3

Worldport Pan Am Terminal

The Worldport Terminal was designed as a showcase by Ives, Turano & Gardner Associated Architects and Walther Prokosch of Tippets-Abbett-McCarthy-Stratton. In 2013, as the terminal was still in use (but deteriorating), Delta decided to demolish it for airplane parking.

Preservationists called for its reuse, citing its iconic saucer shape architecture and its historic moments (the first home of the Boeing 707 and where The Beatles arrived to America in 1964). It also landed on the National Trust’s 11 Most Endangered Places List that year. Yet, as we analyzed in 2013, the terminal was not a slam dunk for preservation, the most damning were the significant alterations that have occurred to the building over the years. New Yorkers watched as the building was stripped, over a multi-month demolition.