In Photos: New TWA Lounge at NYC's 1WTC

The TWA lounge at 1WTC. Photography by Jesse David Harris.

A few years ago, we got a behind-the-scenes look at the developing TWA Flight Center at JFK Airport, and have brought you previews of the ongoing project. Now, MCR Development, has officially opened the TWA Lounge on the 86th Floor of 1 WTC. Not only that, but plans and a new rendering have been revealed of the highly anticipated TWA Hotel at JFK International Airport.

Reception desk modeled after Jet Age city center TWA ticket counters created by iconic mid-century industrial designer Raymond Loewy. Photography by Emily Gilbert.

The sunken lounge carpeted in Chili Pepper Red, the signature color created by Saarinen for the TWA Flight Center. The custom Solari© split-flap analog display, manufactured in Udine, Italy, shows flight departures. Photography by Emily Gilbert.

In anticipation of the completion of the TWA Hotel at JFK Airport, a TWA Lounge on the 86th Floor of 1 WTC has been created, offering a detailed recreation Saarinen’s original 1962 TWA Flight Center. Filled with vintage ephemera, the lounge is a stunning and highly detailed recreation, showing everything from branded pins, cigarettes, and duffel bags, and even includes vintage flight hostess uniforms and a functional Solari departure board.

MCR’s TWA Collection includes a library of historic design and branding books, vintage flight collateral, iconic TWA flight hostess uniforms and a scale model of Eero Saarinen’s Flight Center at TWA Airport. Photography by Emily Gilbert.

Vintage rotary phone, martini glass and ash tray on a mid-century modern table in the TWA lounge. Photography by Emily Gilbert.

Designed by Lubrano Ciavarra Architects and informed by key design features of Eero Saarinen’s iconic TWA Flight Center, the lounge will serve as the office for the hotel’s meeting and events sales team. With the signature Chili Pepper Red color created by Saarinen, the lounge gives New Yorkers a wonderful taste of what’s to come at JFK.

Ambassadors Lounge in TWA Lounge at 1WTC with vintage Saarinen Tulip Chairs with original 1962 Knoll fabric seats, Saarinen Executive Side Chairs, Arm Chairs and marble Pedestal tables, all produced by Knoll. Photography by Emily Gilbert.

MCR Development has also shared some photos of the ongoing construction of the TWA Hotel at JFK, along with new renderings. The project looks to restore the landmark to its 1962 Jet Age condition by preserving the iconic Eero Saarinen terminal. At 505 guestrooms, 50,000 square feet of conference, event and meeting space, and 10,000 square foot public observation deck, this project is a complete rehabilitation of a building that has been dark for the past 15 years since closing in 2001.

New York government officials including Governor Andrew Cuomo attended the TWA Hotel groundbreaking on December 15, 2016. Photo by Max Touhey.

Photo by Max Touhey

View of north hotel wing foundation. Photo courtesy of MCR Development

A designated New York City Landmark and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and the New York State Register of Historic Places, the hotel also plans to include a museum focusing on New York as the birthplace of the Jet Age.

Rendering courtesy of MCR Development