Demuelen valioso mural de vidrio en la Terminal 8
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When American Airlines Terminal 8 opened in 1960 at what was then New York International Airport at Idlewild, its most striking feature was the great stained-glass facade. The structure, made of red, sapphire and white glass tiles, wasn’t just public art; it also allowed light into the terminal, while keeping those inside from broiling in the south-facing building.
But next May, the 317-foot-by-23-foot translucent wall will come down. American Airlines is razing Terminal 8 as part of a $1.1 billion expansion that will create one terminal to serve all its customers at John F. Kennedy International Airport. “The cathedral,” as the abstract mosaic has sometimes been called, will vanish.
The airline had hoped to salvage the window, designed by the artist Robert Sowers, but was put off by the expense. “It would cost $1 million just to take it down,” said Steven Silver, who manages real estate at American. So when the terminal is demolished, the only act of preservation will be to use some of the glass to make key chains for airline employees.
Martin Rambusch, a fourth-generation fabricator of stained glass, whose grandfather helped assemble the window’s 30,000 tiles, said the plan to scrap it was “very disappointing.” The facade was once the largest stained-glass installation in the world, he said, adding that it was surpassed only in 1979 by Lovers Lane United Methodist Church in Dallas, three of whose four walls are stained glass.
A different fate is planned for two interior murals by the Brazilian artist Hector Carybé, which depict scenes of American frontier life and the art and music of Latin America. They are being sold, the proceeds to pay for a mural in the new terminal by a Haitian artist, Jean-Claude Leganeur.
While Terminal 8 is not a designated landmark, the idea of turning the glass mural into key chains has upset some. “It’s disrespectful and distasteful,” said Harriet Senie, a professor of art history at City College and the City University of New York Graduate Center. “It’s almost like a cannibalization.”
Recently, some American Airlines employees at Terminal 8 weighed in on the mural’s fate. “I assumed they would be saving the window,” said John Corrado, a pilot with the airline for 28 years. “It is part of the New York landscape.”
The plan to turn shards of glass into key chains seems “tacky,” he added.
“They should preserve it,” said Craig Kozan, a supervisor, who said the artwork reminded him of a calmer time in air travel.
But John Farrell, another pilot, said: “In this age, you can’t afford too much sentimentality. There are razor-thin margins in this business, and I don’t think anybody ever buys a ticket because American Airlines has a very nice stained window. ” RUTH FORD
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