"The New York State Pavilion, the space-age behemoth that was built for the 1964-65 New York World's Fair in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, is finally getting its comeback. The Parks Department has signed off on a stabilization and restoration effort budgeted at roughly $50 million (the agency's project total is $56.8 million), aimed at rescuing the Pavilion's weathered concrete, steel and platforms after decades of rust, closures and scaffolding."
"If you know the structure from pop culture, you know it as the "alien spaceship" from 1997's Men in Black. (They were the three Jetsons-esque observation towers that looked like they were a button-push away from lifting off.) If you know it from New York history, you know it as Philip Johnson's retro-futurist "Tent of Tomorrow," built to embody the World's Fair promise of "man's achievement on a shrinking globe in an expanding universe.""
"Now, the plan is to make it experience-able again, at least in a limited form. NYC Parks expects guided tours to begin as soon as late 2026, once the current phase wraps. (As of now, construction is slated through October 2026.) The first phase of work was completed in 2023, including repairs and upgrades that restored the towers' lighting, making the Pavilion read less like an abandoned sci-fi set and more like a New York icon once again."
The New York State Pavilion, designed by Philip Johnson for the 1964-65 World's Fair, is undergoing a stabilization and restoration effort with the Parks Department allocating roughly $50 million (project total $56.8 million). The project targets deteriorated concrete, rusted steel, and worn platforms after decades of closures and scaffolding. A 2023 phase repaired and upgraded the towers' lighting to restore the site's visual presence. NYC Parks plans limited guided tours to begin as soon as late 2026, with construction currently slated through October 2026 to prepare the structure for controlled public access.
Read at Time Out New York
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