Philip Johnson’s New York State Pavilion Debuts Its ‘American Cheese Yellow’ Paint Job
Photo via Wikimedia Commons
After 8,000 hours and 1,600 gallons of paint, the New York State Pavilion’s Tent of Tomorrow is camera-ready for its spot on Open House New York Weekend. The Daily News reports that Philip Johnson‘s iconic World’s Fair structure in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park is now sporting a fresh coat of “American Cheese Yellow” paint. The job “included power-washing off decades of rust, applying primer and the historically accurate paint while working on a platform suspended 100 feet in the air,” and it cost $3 million. It’ll certainly be all over Instagram tomorrow and Sunday, but some ambitious architecture lovers have already gotten up close to the landmark.
Philip Johnson designed the New York State Pavilion for the 1964-65 World’s Fair as a trio of observation deck towers (they rise 60, 150, and 226 feet, respectively) along with the Tent of Tomorrow, a 350-foot x 250-foot structure that sits on 16 100-foot columns. During the festivities the tent housed a huge terrazzo map of New York State and boasted the largest cable suspension roof in the world.
A photo posted by Daniel Avila (@daniel.avila) on Oct 15, 2015 at 8:55am PDT
The pricey paint job is part of a larger $8 million effort to restore the icon, which includes installing LED lights to illuminate the structure at night, upgrading the electrical systems, and replacing staircases and concrete platforms in the observation towers. If you’re interested in getting a special peek inside, be sure to check out the details for OHNY Weekend.
[Via NYDN]
RELATED:
