The TWA Hotel has started to take reservations located at terminal building at New York's John F Kennedy airport. The terminal building is the retro masterpiece of Eero Saarinen built in the 1960s.

After a major overhaul started in 2016, the six-story hotel wings renovation was finally completed to accommodate 512 guestrooms taking place behind the iconic Eero Saarinen landmark.

The building has been abandoned for 16 years but since 2001, Eero Saarinen's landmark has undergone many stages of construction in preparation for its bright future as a hotel. The TWA Hotel will officially open on May15, 2019 at the former TWA Terminal, restoring and reimagining it as a first-class hotel.

The building was renovated with contributions of New York-based firms Lubrano Ciavarra Architects, Beyer Blinder Belle and Stonehill Taylor and INC Architecture & Design as the designer of the event spaces. Hotel-owner-operator MCR, developer Morse and the MCR team have played an active role in revitalization of the building in the process.

Known as an amazing example of Space Age architecture, the new building now houses 512 ultra-quiet guestrooms with exhilarating views of JFK’s runways and the iconic TWA Flight Center, 50,000 square feet of meeting and event space that can host up to 1,600 people, 6 restaurants and 8 bars, 10,000-square-foot rooftop observation deck with pool. 

The building hosts the state of the art 10,000-square-foot fitness facility with yoga, spinning and other amenities, a museum devoted to the Jet Age, TWA and the midcentury modern design movement and classic Solari split-flap message board with authentic original mechanical operation manufactured in Udine, Italy.

The guestrooms, inspired by the year 1962 - when Jet Age excitement electrified the country, were designed by New York City firm Stonehill Taylor will be accessible through Saarinen’s iconic flight tubes made famous by the 2002 film "Catch Me If You Can". 

In the interior, TWA Hotel’s glass curtain wall designed by Fabbrica is the second-thickest in the world after the wall at the U.S. Embassy in London — is seven panes and 4½ inches thick. The glass’ Sound Transmission Class rating of nearly 50 ensures the floor-to-ceiling, full-width windows cancel runway noise.

The rooms' authentic furnishings were designed by Knoll. Saarinen's classic midcentury modern furniture by Knoll is right at home in the hotel. An armless Saarinen Executive Chair wrapped in tan leather is tucked into the custom walnut, brass and crystallized glass desk.

Image © David Mitchell

In the room, an authentic Saarinen Womb Chair, upholstered in red Knoll fabric, sits beside a 16-inch round white Saarinen Pedestal tulip side table where guests can make unlimited free international and local calls on a 1950s Western Electric 500 phone retrofitted with a pulse to tone converter by Old Phone Works.

Image © David Mitchell

Walnut elements used in the rooms, ceiling trim, a tambour wall, a sliding barn door for the bathroom soften the space. A custom walnut entryway unit includes storage, a mini refrigerator and a hidden safe. Hidden behind a walnut trim, cove lighting reflects onto the ceiling to illuminate the room.

In the rooms, visitors will meet a Hollywood-style bathroom. The star of the terrazzo-tiled bathroom is a custom Hollywood vanity with bubble lights inspired by Philip Johnson’s iconic ladies’ lounge in New York City’s former Four Seasons restaurant. The glass-enclosed shower with linear drain is subway-tiled in white with midnight blue trim.

Image © David Mitchell

In the TWA Hotel Lounge Area, the sunken lounge carpeted in Chili Pepper Red was adapted to the existing design. The signature color was created by Saarinen for the TWA Flight Center, and the inspiration came for Benjamin Moore’s 2018 Color of the Year, Caliente. Curved seating banquettes and Eero Saarinen-designed penny tile flooring were transported from JFK Airport to the 86th floor of One World Trade Center.

Image © David Mitchell

Extensive rotating collection of original Jet Age David Klein prints commissioned by TWA, including Klein’s New York Fly TWA (1956), part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art.

For people who are interested in staying in a retro TWA Hotel, now you can book your stay from TWA's Hotel webpage. 

All images © Max Touhey, unless stated otherwise.

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