The TWA Hotel Turns an Abandoned Airport Terminal Into a Midcentury Dream
Meet JFK's first on-airport hotel—complete with midcentury modern guest rooms, a 10,000-square-foot rooftop deck with pool, and a Jean-Georges restaurant.
An abandoned airport terminal at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport has been reborn as the TWA Hotel, a stylish stay channeling the jet age. While the once-groundbreaking Trans World Airlines ceased operations in 2001, and the terminal closed in October of that year, the luxe hotel pays homage to the original architecture of the 1962 building designed by architect Eero Saarinen.
The entryway to TWA Hotel.
Max Touhey
This 1962 Eero Saarinen-designed landmark now holds the TWA Hotel.
Max Touhey
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The hotel, which begins accepting reservations on February 14, has been reimagined by New York–based design firms Lubrano Ciavarra, INC., Beyer Blinder Belle, and Stonehill Taylor.
The project calls to mind the romance of flying when the transportation method was still a novelty. Some original waiting area seating remains in the lobby and the business and events center.
This space was originally outfitted by acclaimed Parisian industrial designer Raymond Loewy, the mind behind the 1955 Coca-Cola contour bottle, the 1959 TWA twin globes logo, the 1963 Studebaker Avanti, and the 1962 Air Force One livery.
Max Touhey
Vintage tunes drift through the hotel in a curated soundtrack featuring Frank Sinatra, The Beatles, The 5th Dimension, Dusty Springfield, Rosemary Clooney, and Dean Martin. Airline beverage carts with snacks and carbonated sips are speckled throughout the grounds, while a champagne fridge filled with Moet & Chandon, TAB, and miniature bottles sits at the ready in the lobby for a boozy fix.
Chili Pepper red is the signature color created by Saarinen for the TWA Flight Center. The hue also inspired Benjamin Moore’s 2018 color of the year, Caliente.
Max Touhey
To access the guest rooms, patrons enter through space-age flight tubes—which you may remember from the film Catch Me If You Can. Clean lines meet a touch of glam in the rooms, which feature leather upholstery; a pop of primary color; Hollywood-style vanities; and custom walnut, brass, and glass details. Guests can make free unlimited local and international calls from a rewired vintage rotary phone, while taking in views of the runway.
Guest rooms at the TWA Hotel have the second-thickest glass in the world.
David Mitchell
Shop the Look
Knoll Saarinen Womb Settee
Find your bliss with the Saarinen Womb Settee by Knoll. Designed by Eero Saarinen in 1948, the Settee is a product of Florence Knoll asking the iconic designer to craft something that she could “curl up in”. Its modern, yet comfortable look is crafted from a molded, reinforced fiberglass shell, which is layered in dense foam and topped with separate seat and back cushions in polyester fiber over a foam core. Its steel rod and plush upholstered add a high level of stability and support. Large enough for 2 to relax in, the Saarinen Womb Settee is ideal for any contemporary living room, bedroom or guest room. Photo Courtesy of Knoll
ShopSaarinen
The creator of the ubiquitous Knoll Tulip chairs and tables, Eero Saarinen (1910–1961) was one of the 20th century’s most prominent space shapers, merging dynamic forms with a modernist sensibility across architecture and design. Among Saarinen’s greatest accomplishments are Washington D.C.’s Dulles International Airport, the very sculptural and fluid TWA terminal at JFK Airport in New York, and the 630-foot-high Gateway Arch of St. Louis, Missouri, each of them defining structures of postwar America. Catenary curves were present in many of his structural designs. During his long association with Knoll, Saarinen’s other famous furniture pieces included the Grasshopper lounge chair and the Womb settee. Married to Aline Bernstein Saarinen, a well-known critic of art and architecture, Saarinen also collaborated with Charles Eames, with whom he designed his first prize-winning chair. With rich illustration tracing his life and career, this architecture introduction follows Saarinen from his studies to training to his most prestigious projects, and explores how each of his designs brought a new dimension to the modernist landscape. The author Pierluigi Serraino is a practicing architect and design agitator in the San Francisco Bay Area. His projects and writings have been published in journals such as Architectural Record, A+U (Japan), and the Architectural Review (UK). Among his books are Modernism Rediscovered (2000), Eero Saarinen (2005), The Creative Architect: Inside the Great Personality Study (2016) and Ezra Stoller: A Photographic History of Modern American Architecture (2019). The editor Peter Gössel runs an agency for museum and exhibition design. He has published Taschen monographs on Julius Shulman, R. M. Schindler, John Lautner, and Richard Neutra, as well as several titles in the Basic Architecture series. Photo courtesy of Taschen
ShopKnoll Saarinen Executive Armchair With Swivel Base
Create a stylistic bridge between the decades with the Saarinen Executive Armchair with Swivel Base by Knoll based on Eero Saarinen's groundbreaking 1957 furniture collection. Its seat and arms sport the signature curvaceous design that made it so revolutionary when it was introduced. Underneath, the swivel base mounted on casters with pneumatic height adjustment brings up-to-date practicality to this timeless retro-modern seating solution.
ShopNo need to worry about jet engine noise, as the floor-to-ceiling windows are built with Fabbrica glass—and they're the second-thickest windows in the world, following those of the U.S. Embassy in London. A fully stocked, in-room wet bar holds Moët & Chandon Imperial Brut Champagne, Hennessy V.S.O.P Privilège Cognac, and ingredients for making the official 007 Belvedere martini for when you get thirsty.
The hotel features custom-built millwork crafted in Ohio’s Amish Country—including walnut martini bars and tambour walls, as seen here. All specialty pieces are created from locally grown walnut trees.
David Mitchell
The museum showcases a collection of authentic TWA air hostess uniforms designed by Valentino, Ralph Lauren, and Stan Herman.
David Mitchell
Common area amenities include 50,000 square feet of event space for up to 1,600 people, a 10,000-square-foot fitness center offering yoga and spin classes, eight bars, and six restaurants including acclaimed chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s Paris Café, Lisbon Lounge, and the revived Ambassador’s Club.
The eateries will serve travel-inspired fare from a multitude of destinations, like French marchand de vin braised beef, pasta from Italy, and barbecue chicken from the U.S. There are also high-end retail outlets, an Intelligentsia coffee bar and carts, and a cocktail lounge housed within a Lockheed Constellation L-1649A airplane.
The design team refurbished a classic Solari split-flap message board (with authentic original mechanical operation) manufactured in Udine, Italy.
David Mitchell
A hotel museum dedicated to TWA chronicles the midcentury modern design movement and the rise of the Jet Age. Various artifacts will be on display, including midcentury furniture, David Klein destination posters, vintage luggage tags, TWA uniforms (including the "jungle green" suit worn by air hostesses circa 1968 to 1971), and a TWA toiletries kit—which is also available in each of the guest rooms.
Every bathroom comes equipped with a TWA toiletries kit.
David Mitchell
"Restoring the TWA Hotel is a labor of love for our entire team," says Tyler Morse, CEO of MCR and MORSE Development. "We are counting down the days until the landmark building, dark since 2001, is filled with life again."
Curved seating banquettes and Eero Saarinen-designed penny tile flooring make up the main common areas.
Max Touhey
Shop the Look
Fly TWA: Los Angeles Print
Graphic, gold-washed, vibrant, and vivacious, this vintage airline ad sums up its destination with classic allusions to some of the most commonly recognizable colors, textures and locales. It's a referential works of fantasy, stirring a desire to take to the skies—or hunker down in a retro day dream. This top-flight (heh) poster design was created for Trans World Airlines in the 1950s, aka the Golden Age of air travel. Airline advertisements at the time touted an in-flight journey that was just as luxurious as a vacation itself. Fly TWA: Los Angeles is a conduit to a serious nostalgia moment. Photo Courtesy of 20x200
ShopFly TWA: New York Print
Graphic, gold-washed, vibrant, and vivacious, this vintage airline ad sums up its destination with classic allusions to some of the most commonly recognizable colors, textures and locales. It's a referential works of fantasy, stirring a desire to take to the skies—or hunker down in a retro day dream. This top-flight (heh) poster design was created for Trans World Airlines in the 1950s, aka the Golden Age of air travel. Airline advertisements at the time touted an in-flight journey that was just as luxurious as a vacation itself. Fly TWA: New York is a conduit to a serious nostalgia moment. Photo Courtesy of 20x200
ShopFly TWA: San Francisco Print
Graphic, gold-washed, vibrant, and vivacious, this vintage airline ad sums up its destination with classic allusions to some of the most commonly recognizable colors, textures and locales. It's a referential works of fantasy, stirring a desire to take to the skies—or hunker down in a retro day dream. This top-flight (heh) poster design was created for Trans World Airlines in the 1950s, aka the Golden Age of air travel. Airline advertisements at the time touted an in-flight journey that was just as luxurious as a vacation itself. Fly TWA: San Francisco is a conduit to a serious nostalgia moment. Photo Courtesy of 20x200
ShopCome May 15th, the hotel will welcome travelers for long- or short-term stays—even just for a quick place to shower, catch up on emails, get in a bit of exercise, and nosh on gourmet eats before heading to the next stop. Reservations for the TWA Hotel open at noon EST on February 14, with room rates starting at $249.
TWA Hotel celebrates its history with vintage uniforms on display. Pictured here is a Stan Herman flight attendant pantsuit from 1975.
Courtesy of TWA Hotel
An aerial view of TWA Hotel.
Max Touhey
Related Reading: An Introduction to Airport Design, Eero Saarinen's Giant 1957 Masterpiece in New Jersey Restored and Reimagined
Project Credits:
Architect of Record: Eero Saarinen
Guest Room Interior Design: Stonehill Taylor
Developer and Lead Investor: MCR
Building Contractor: Turner Construction
Historic Restoration: Beyer Blinder Belle
New Architecture: Lubrano Ciavarra
Event Space Design: INC Architecture & Design
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