HAVING documented the preservation of original hangars from 1939 at LaGuardia Airport and public artworks inside the new Terminal B, there is also an outdoor garden with sculptures evoking the airport’s history. Between 1964 and 2010, the airport’s signature architectural feature was its 150-foot control tower, a sparkplug-shaped structure pockmarked with porthole windows. Its designer Wallace K. Harrison also has Rockefeller Center, Lincoln Center, and the United Nations headquarters in his New York portfolio.
In 2025, the Port Authority of NY & NJ, which operates this airport, installed a replica of the old control tower in a garden where 94th Street enters the airport. This street is the northern continuation of Junction Boulevard, a 3-mile road that begins in Rego Park. Next to the control tower is a windmill, perhaps in reference to Jackson’s Mill which stood near this spot, but more likely for New York’s Dutch history as the windmill also appears on the city seal.
The garden on the airport’s edge beautifies the wait at the red light at this highly-trafficked intersection, reintroducing nature to a place that seems devoid of it.
Harrison’s control tower is also memorialized inside the children’s play area at Terminal B, where a column is enveloped by painted porthole windows. Play areas have become a standard amenity in airports as travelers often arrive long in advance of a flight. PANYNJ has a detailed list of family-friendly things to do at its three metro airports.
A third example of the old control tower being honored is on the internal roads of LaGuardia Airport, whose signage features the tower as a logo. It also has its own lamppost type. Kevin, what shall we call it? Similarly, JFK Airport has its own street sign and lamppost design.
The present control tower is 198 feet tall, with more space in its control cab floor and ground level offices. It is the third control tower at LGA, the first one being on the rooftop of the old Domestic Terminal Building.
Serving the airport between 1939 and 1964, the building hosting the first control tower had an Art Deco design with a traffic circle at its entrance and a rooftop walkway where the public could have lunch and observe airplanes. Kevin visited LGA’s functioning Art Deco terminal in 2019, which is landmarked by the city.
As historical art is concerned, the first terminal had an aluminum eagle atop its entrance. We’ve written about the eagles of old Penn Station, the eagles of Central Park Zoo, and the eagle from the City Hall Post Office relocated to Bronx Zoo. The internet is silent on the fate of LaGuardia Airport’s eagle. It was removed in 1964 for a larger central terminal, which in turn was demolished by 2020 for the present Terminal B.
Concerning the airport’s namesake, the city also honored Mayor Fiorello H. LaGuardia with a community college, high school (my alma mater), NYCHA projects, street with a monument, and two playgrounds: in Manhattan and Brooklyn.
For more aviation history, read about the old hangars at LaGuardia Airport, Marine Air Terminal, JFK Airport’s former TWA terminal and unique lampposts. We’ve also documented former airfields at Floyd Bennett Field, Miller Field, Glenn Curtiss Airport, and Flushing Airport.
Sergey Kadinsky is the author of Hidden Waters of New York City: A History and Guide to 101 Forgotten Lakes, Ponds, Creeks, and Streams in the Five Boroughs (2016, Countryman Press), adjunct history professor at Touro University and the webmaster of Hidden Waters Blog.
Check out the ForgottenBook, take a look at the gift shop. As always, “comment…as you see fit.” I earn a small payment when you click on any ad on the site.
8/30/25
6 comments
In March 2024, during bad weather, a Southwest airplane was literally on a collision course with the control tower, getting too close before it veered off.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xauO-7FH8qI&t=17s
There was an outdoor viewing area also at one of the then-newer terminals that replaced the Domestic Terminal Building. I remember that I’d occasionally force my father to take me over there to watch the planes; it was louder n’ heck — wasn’t that a knock on the 727’s, which were in heavy LGA use? — and the smell of the jet fuel exhaust was unmistakable. I was too young then to notice, or to recall now, but this area must have been accessible to the general public, because we never visited it as part of any flight. I don’t know what the security arrangements would have entailed, back in the early 1970’s.
The Eagle from the original terminal was relocated and is on the roof of Hangar 7, facing the airfield. This building now serves as the Port Authority Administration Building.
Thank you. Indeed, the eagle is atop the admin office building next to the Marine Air Terminal.
Also, the CTB for a few years after opening in 1964 had a public observation area on the roof adjacent to the 3rd floor. Had to enter through turnstiles.
My father took me with him for business meetings with folks who had flown to NYC. They met at the “Kitty Hawk Lounge”, which was inside the old (original) terminal. Access to gates, or rooftop viewing areas was open to all. There may have been a uniformed officer on routine patrol.
I remember the demolition of the original terminal and the construction of the new (2nd) one. There was a grade level oval parking lot in front of the original terminal, and, some years later, the oval-shaped multi-tiered parking lot was built in front of the 2nd terminal. When the airport was built, that oval area was a small marina, where the well-to-do could be dropped off at the airport by boat. They were not usual boats, either. They were often the private commuter yachts that such folks used to travel from their North Shore waterfront estates in Nassau County to their Manhattan offices. It must have been nice to enjoy a light breakfast on your yacht as you went from your mansion to the airport for a flight!