Queens Museum

The Queens Museum (formerly the Queens Museum of Art) is an art museum and educational center at Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in the borough of Queens in New York City, New York, U.S. Established in 1972, the museum has among its permanent exhibitions the Panorama of the City of New York, a room-sized scale model of the five boroughs originally built for the 1964 New York World's Fair. It also has a large archive of artifacts from both the 1939 and 1964 World's Fairs, a selection of which is on display. As of 2018, Queens Museum's director is Sally Tallant.

The museum's building was constructed for the 1939 New York World's Fair as the New York City Pavilion. The structure was used by the United Nations General Assembly from 1946 to 1950 and was reused as the city's pavilion for the 1964 World's Fair. The structure was preserved following the World's Fair, serving as a museum and an ice-skating rink. The museum was renovated in the 1990s and expanded significantly in the 2010s. Another expansion was announced in the 2020s.

History

Previous building use

1939 World's Fair and United Nations

The Queens Museum is located in the New York City Building at Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, designed by architect Aymar Embury II for the 1939 World's Fair. The city pavilion originally stood next to the Trylon and Perisphere, the central monument of the 1939 fair, which was dismantled after that event (the site would later become the Unisphere in 1964). The New York City Building was one of two major structures to remain in the park from the 1939 World's Fair, the other being Billy Rose's Aquacade.

From 1946 to 1950, the pavilion was the temporary home of the United Nations General Assembly, and was the site of numerous defining moments in the UN's early years, including the creation of UNICEF, the partition of Korea, and the authorization by the UN of the creation of Israel.

1964 World's Fair

The Flushing Meadows site was selected in 1959 for the 1964 New York World's Fair. Gilmore David Clarke and Michael Rapuano, designers of the original World's Fair layout, were retained to tailor the original 1939 park layout for the new fair. New York City parks commissioner Robert Moses was appointed as president of the World's Fair Corporation, which was to operate the fair. Moses decided to reuse the New York City Building as the city's exhibition space during the 1964 World's Fair. Almost all of Flushing Meadows–Corona Park was closed in early 1961 in advance of the fair, except for the New York City Building's ice skating rink. In June 1961, the New York City Board of Estimate awarded a contract for the construction of the Panorama of the City of New York, a scale model of New York City within the City Building. The city government announced in 1962 that it would spend $832,500 to renovate the building's skating rink. The architect Daniel Chait was hired to renovate the City Building. Moses requested $1.066 million for the building's renovation in June 1962, and the Board of Estimate ultimately approved $2 million in funding. In mid-1963, two figure-skating companies were selected to perform at the City Building as part of a show called Dick Button's Ice-Travaganza.

The New York City Building was formally rededicated on April 25, 1964, two days after the 1964 World's Fair opened. Tickets to the ice-skating show ranged from $1 to $2, while tickets for simulated helicopter rides above the Panorama cost 10 cents apiece. The main attraction in the building was the Panorama of the City of New York, which had cost the city $600,000 and taken two years to construct. The building's ice rink was equipped with a ski run, in addition to six movable stages and 12 stationary stages. Memorabilia and artworks from 34 museums were displayed inside the building to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the British conquest of New Netherland, and a film displayed the history of the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority (TBTA). Radio station WNYC also moved much of its broadcasting operations to the City Building during the 1964 World's Fair. A replica of a New York City Police Department precinct was added to the building.

During the 1964 season, there were rarely any queues to get inside the City Building. The Panorama was initially relatively unpopular with visitors, but it ultimately recorded an average of 1,400 visitors a day. Dick Button's Ice-Travaganza was also unsuccessful, despite the building's central location within the World's Fair grounds. The New York City Building operated until the end of the 1964 World's Fair on October 1965. From the outset, Moses planned to preserve the New York City Building after the 1964 World's Fair, and the World's Fair Corporation set aside funding for the building's renovation at the end of the fair. The initial plans called for the Panorama to be moved from the building to the Civic Center of Manhattan, allowing the City Building to be used as a skating rink. Moses subsequently offered to have the TBTA take responsibility for the Panorama.

Opening as museum

The City Building was one of the few buildings to remain from the 1964 fair, along with the Unisphere, Singer Bowl, New York State and U.S. pavilions, and the Hall of Science. In 1967, the city government took over the surrounding park. In 1972, with minor alterations, the north side of the City Building was converted into the Queens Center for Art and Culture, later renamed the Queens Museum of Art. The writer Lawrence R. Samuel wrote that the building's conversion into a museum helped to raise Flushing Meadows Park's profile.

In 1994, the building underwent a further renovation, with architect Rafael Viñoly reconfiguring the structure into galleries, classrooms, and offices. For many years, half of the building was an ice skating rink. In 1999, the museum was again renovated for $15 million.

2000s to present

First phase of expansion

In August 2001, the Queens Museum of Art hosted an architectural design competition for a proposed renovation of its building; the museum hired Eric Owen Moss to design the expansion that December. The plans called for the relocation of the ice skating rink in the southern end of the New York City Building, as well as a bent-glass roof, an exhibition space at the center of the structure, and a dirt mound facing Grand Central Parkway to the west. Architectural critics derided Moss's original design, which museum officials later voted to scale down. Tom Finkelpearl was hired as the museum's director in 2002. Finkelpearl was advocating for changes to the museum's renovation plans by late 2004. Accordingly, Moss was replaced in March 2005 by Grimshaw Architects. Grimshaw announced revised designs for the expansion the next year. At the time, the renovation was supposed to cost $37 million, of which $21 million came from the Queens borough president's office.

The museum began an expansion project in 2009. Grimshaw Architects, along with the engineering firm of Ammann & Whitney, developed plans for 50,000 square feet (4,600 m²) of exhibition, education and office space as well as eight new artist studios. The new space would be created on the site of the old ice skating rink. The ice rink was relocated to a new facility in the northeastern section of Flushing Meadows–Corona Park. and the interior of the ice rink was demolished by the beginning of 2010. The project ultimately ended up costing $69 million. The expanded museum reopened in November 2013 with a new entrance at Grand Central Parkway. After it reopened, the museum shortened its name to Queens Museum.

Leadership changes and second phase of expansion

Finkelpearl resigned in 2014 when he was hired as commissioner of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. Subsequently, the Queens Museum appointed Laura Raicovich as its director that October. The New York Times wrote that, in contrast to other museum directors (who tended to be politically uninvolved), Raicovich was politically outspoken during her tenure as the Queens Museum's director; Raicovich said her actions were intended to make the museum more attractive to Queens' diverse population. In September 2016, the Queens Museum was unexpectedly closed due to security restrictions for events at the nearby Grandstand Stadium for the US Open tennis competition; the closures took place again during the 2017 US Open. During the inauguration of Donald Trump as U.S. president in January 2017, the museum closed temporarily in conjunction with a protest hosted by artists. The museum also began hosting events at nearby houses and streets. Raicovich told the Times that these events had been intended to counter a decline in visitor numbers that occurred after Trump's election.

In 2017, the museum controversially canceled an agreement to rent space for a party celebrating the 70th anniversary of the Israeli Declaration of Independence. Raicovich had called the party a "political event". Local politicians worked to restore the museum's commitment to host the event, which was ultimately reinstated at the museum. The event included a staged reenactment of the November 29, 1947, United Nations vote to partition the British Mandate for Palestine. As a consequence of the controversy, the Queens Museum's board commissioned an investigation into misbehaviors by Raicovich and deputy director David Strauss. Raicovich resigned in January 2018, and Strauss was fired. The British curator Sally Tallant was hired as the museum's new director in late 2018.

The Queens Museum was closed temporarily from March to September 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City. The city government gave the museum $26.4 million in September 2021 to complete the second phase of its expansion. In mid-2022, the museum hired Levenbetts to design the renovation, which museum officials predicted would cost $69 million. The project would create a children's museum wing; add 2,600 square feet (240 m²) of storage space; build a 5,500-square-foot (510 m²) art lab; and add classrooms, conservation, and exhibit preparation spaces. The project was to involve repairing the south facade as well. The city allocated another $8.5 million for the children's museum space in August 2023.

Building

The museum building covers 105,000 square feet (9,800 m²) following the 2013 renovation. The building includes exhibit spaces, event spaces, artists' studios, a cafe, and an atrium. There is a 200-foot-wide (61 m), 27-foot-tall (8.2 m) glass wall on the western facade of the museum building. The glass facade consists of fritted glass panels interspersed with aluminum panels. At night, the facade is illuminated by LED lights that are visible from Grand Central Parkway immediately to the west. Prior to the 2013 renovation, the building had no main entrance; thus, many visitors to Flushing Meadows–Corona Park did not know of the museum's existence.

The structure is one of five buildings that survive from the 1939 World's Fair. The other structures include a boathouse and an administration building in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park; the Parachute Jump on Coney Island; and the Belgian Building at Virginia Union University in Richmond, Virginia.

Collections and exhibits

Permanent collection

The museum's permanent collection includes 10,000 items related to the 1939 and 1964 World's Fairs. As of 2013, about 900 World's Fair objects are on permanent display. Acquisitions over the years have included works by Salvador Dalí and Mark Dion.

Panorama of the City of New York

The largest permanent exhibition at the Queens Museum is the Panorama of the City of New York, which was constructed by Lester Associates for the 1964 World's Fair. A celebration of the city's municipal infrastructure, this 9,335-square-foot (867.2 m²) architectural model includes almost every building that existed in all five boroughs in 1992, at a 1:1200 scale. One hundred employees from Raymond Lester Associates built the model in three years. The model was constructed in 273 sections. The panorama depicts 895,000 individual structures, which are made of plastic or wood. All of the bridges are made of brass. The section showing the Far Rockaway neighborhood was never installed due to space limitations.

After the Fair closed, the Panorama remained open to the public, and Lester's team updated the map in 1967, 1968, and 1969. After 1970, very few changes were made until 1992, when again Lester Associates was hired to update the model, adding over 60,000 structures. In March 2009, the museum announced that it would allow people to donate at least $50 to have accurate scale models created and added. The mechanical "helicopter" vehicles for conveying exhibition visitors were showing signs of wear, and were removed before the 1994 reopening. The Panorama has also hosted temporary exhibits, such as models of unbuilt structures the 2018 exhibit Never Built New York.

The current installation, dating to a 1990s renovation of the museum by Rafael Viñoly, features accessible ramps and an elevated walkway which surround the Panorama. Since 2023, the museum has also allowed visitors to look at individual structures in the Panorama.

Relief Map of the New York City Water Supply System

For the 1939 World's Fair, city agencies were invited to produce exhibits for the New York City Pavilion. The Department of Water Supply, Gas and Electricity (a New York City Department of Environmental Protection predecessor agency) commissioned the Cartographic Survey Force of the Works Progress Administration to create the large Relief Map of the New York City Water Supply System and watershed. Work began in 1938, and a team of map builders toiled over the map with an immense depression-era budget of $100,000 (equivalent to $2,190,000 in 2023). At 540 square feet (50 m²), the map was too big for the allocated space in the New York City pavilion, resulting in its elimination from the World's Fair. Ten years later, the map made its first and only public debut at the city's Golden Anniversary Exposition in Manhattan's Grand Central Palace.

By the start of the 21st century, the 27-piece map in storage was in desperate need of conservation. In October 2006, the New York City Department of Environmental Protection and the Queens Museum sent the historic display to McKay Lodge Fine Arts Conservation Lab in Oberlin, Ohio, for restoration. Over the next 18 months, conservators and technicians worked on the model full-time, removing over 70 years of accumulated dirt and re-paintings. Clearing away the dirt and debris, they found much of the original geography and painted details to be intact or recoverable. Road maps and satellite images were used to restore lost portions of the model.

Near the 70th anniversary of the model and the 100th anniversary of the inauguration of the Catskill System's construction, the map was restored to its original form and was installed in the former New York City Building (now the Queens Museum), where it remains on long-term loan.

World's Fair Visual Storage and Gallery

Located on the second floor of the Queens Museum, this exhibit displays memorabilia from both the 1939 and 1964 World's Fairs. The online catalog contains over 10,000 items in total from both fairs.

Non-permanent collection

Neustadt Collection of Tiffany Glass

Since 1995, the museum has maintained a partnership with the Neustadt Collection of Tiffany Glass. Selections from the collection are on long-term display, drawn from a large private Tiffany collection assembled by Dr. Egon Neustadt and his wife Hildegard starting in the mid-1930s. Most of the collection is kept in storage in Long Island City and is not on public view. The history of the creation of Tiffany's artworks is featured in the Queens Museum exhibitions, as Tiffany Studios and Furnaces was once located in Corona, which were closed in the 1930s.

Temporary exhibits

The museum also stages temporary exhibits regularly. Exhibits in the 2000s included photographs, such as a 2000 showcase of crime scene photographs from the Daily News Archive and a 2007 exhibit of photographs of Robert Moses's work by Andrew Moore. In 2003, the museum displayed nearly 1,000 drawings by the court reporter and political cartoonist William Sharp.

When the museum reopened after the COVID-19 pandemic, it hosted exhibitions about the concept of home, the photographer Bruce Davidson, and children's art.

Outreach

The Queens Museum runs numerous outreach programs for the surrounding community. During the COVID-19 pandemic closure, the Queens Museum organized a food pantry for residents of the surrounding neighborhood. The museum launched an activist program for teens, the Queens Teens Institute for Art and Social Justice, in 2023. It has also been involved in community projects, including the restoration of Corona Plaza, a public plaza near the New York City Subway's 103rd Street–Corona Plaza station, in the early 21st century.

Operation

The museum is operated by the Queens Museum of Art, which is classified as a 501(c)(3) organization since 1972. As of 2018, Queens Museum's director is Sally Tallant.

Each year, through exhibitions and programs the Queens Museum serves about 200,000 visitors. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the museum accommodated 30,000 students annually. In 2020, the Queens Museum made admission free for all visitors. The museum instead operates on a pay what you want model.

See also

• List of museums and cultural institutions in New York City

References

Citations

Sources

• Samuel, Lawrence R. (2007). The End of the Innocence: The 1964–1965 New York World's Fair (1st ed.). Syracuse University Press. ISBN 978-0-8156-0890-5.
• Stern, Robert A. M.; Mellins, Thomas; Fishman, David (1995). New York 1960: Architecture and Urbanism Between the Second World War and the Bicentennial. New York: Monacelli Press. ISBN 1-885254-02-4. OCLC 32159240. OL 1130718M.

External links

• Official website