I’m a bit of a geek for airports. Most people today might associate them with long security lines, drudgery of business trips, and the stress of travel more generally. But I rarely travel for work or other obligations, and so since I was a little kid the airport has always been the gateway to adventures. So I decided that, on our last night in New York, we’d splurge a bit and stay at the TWA Hotel at JFK airport.
Built in 1962, the TWA flight center was designed by acclaimed architect Eero Saarinen and remained the airline’s air terminal at the Kennedy until 2001. It was closed for a short while, and eventually plans to convert it to a luxury hotel came to fruition and it opened in 2019. Today, the old terminal building houses the check-in desk, a food court, restaurants and a museum, as well as various halls, nooks and crannies that you can explore at your leisure. Just outside on the tarmac is an actual Lockheed Constellation whose interior has been repurposed as a cocktail lounge. The guest rooms themselves are not in the original building but in two newly built wings connected to the terminal by its passageways that originally led to the gates. The rooms are indeed very nice, built in a sleek midcentury style and boasting ultra thick floor-to-ceiling windows that allow you to watch jets taxiing a short distance away while keeping the interior surprisingly quiet. But the reason you stay here is the terminal. I spent a few hours just wandering around, taking photos, and having a couple cocktails.
On our visit on a February weekday earlier this year, we got in mid afternoon, when the dimming winter light outside roughly matched the light inside for about an hour. It made for some nicely balanced shots that look like HDR but were in fact only mildly tweaked in Lightroom. It was also not particularly busy, which gave some of the spaces a deliciously eerie, liminal quality.
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If you are nerd for airports or midcentury modernist architecture, and have a few hundred bucks to blow, I do recommend staying here. The only thing I felt that could be improved was their main restaurant, the Paris Cafe. It wasn’t bad, but definitely reflected its current, rather mediocre, Google reviews. But again, you come here for the stellar ambience, not necessarily for the gastronomic experience.
On a closing note, since I mostly post photos of landscapes and ruined buildings, I wanted to make clear that I have no ties whatsoever to this hotel, I just enjoyed staying here. Maybe one day, businesses will want to pay me big bucks to give them glowing reviews, but sadly that day has not yet come.
Thanks for stopping by. More to come soon.
T A B U L A R A S A photography 