This article from NYTimes.com has been sent to you by psa188@juno.com. Newark Resurrects Airport Terminal Long Lost in the Shuffle December 18, 2002 By RONALD SMOTHERS NEWARK, Dec. 17 - The evolution of the building that was the first passenger terminal at Newark Liberty International Airport could be said to mimic the evolution of the airline industry. Like the industry, it has moved from muddy cinder runways to asphalt, from Quonset huts to ever-shinier passenger pavilions, from entrepreneurial small businesses to large corporations that have been sliced, diced, moved and reassembled depending on economic conditions. The restored and expanded building, with Art Deco styling and topped with the first enclosed control tower, was rededicated today as the airport's operations offices and a shrine of sorts to Newark's role in the development of commercial air travel. It was a long, circuitous and expensive journey in which the granite and marble two-story structure had fallen into disuse. But instead of being abandoned, it was eventually cut into three pieces and gingerly rolled on large rubber tires and dollies nearly a mile down the road where it was reassembled, restored and sensitively incorporated as the centerpiece of a new glass and aluminum operations center that tripled its square footage. Susan Baer, general manager of the airport, said it was fitting that the building that housed the first air traffic control center at the airport where night flights and runway lighting were born was rededicated on the 99th anniversary of the Wright Brothers' historic flight. "Kitty Hawk may have been the first in flight, but Newark is where the industry was molded," said Ms. Baer. When the building opened in 1935, Newark was the nation's busiest airport, eclipsing New York's two major airports. About 10,000 people showed up when it was dedicated by Amelia Earhart, back when the airport was the haunt of Charles Lindbergh, Wiley Post and Eddie Rickenbacker. But the building fell victim to industry success. Larger planes, longer runways and greater numbers of air travelers called for changes, and in 1953 it was replaced by a larger terminal as the airport itself expanded northward. The building housed administrative offices and the National Weather Service until the construction of yet another new runway placed it in the middle of a Federal Aviation Administration protected area. While safety concerns banned construction or even use of buildings in such areas so close to where planes took off and landed, other federal regulations prohibited demolition of a national landmark. So the building became a storage area for the airport. Paul Wood, an engineer who directs capital programs for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the airport, came up with the idea of an "adaptive reuse" of the building. The idea was a challenge, he said, though he added, "We managed to move it without even cracking the terrazzo." Once moved, it was incorporated with new construction, set behind the angular arc of the building in a way that makes it impossible to see the ultramodern expanse of new aluminum and glass from the front. "We purposely did not try to replicate the design of the old in the new sections so no one would ever confuse the new with the historic," said Richard Southwick, lead architect on the restoration for Beyer Blinder Belle, the design firm. "And we built the new section lower and behind the wings on each side of the old structure to preserve the historic scene." Not everyone is happy with the result. Gregory Arend, a preservationist and author of a book on the airport and its first terminal, said the restoration was not as faithful to the original look as it could have been. He accused the architects of "Disneyfying" the project. "It was as if they put whitewalls on a garbage truck," he said, referring to the pairing of the Art Deco original with the new space. Still, the main hall of the terminal, with its stylized terrazzo eagle, fluted columns with capitals in the shape of wings, has much of the feel of photographs of it in 1935. Missing from the building, constructed by the Civilian Works Administration between 1932 and 1935, were 10 murals commissioned from the artist Arshile Gorky, which in colorful, Cubist-like canvases depicted several air industry themes. Mary Sue Sweeney-Price, director of the Newark Museum, said only two of the murals had been saved and restored, after they were covered with olive-drab paint when the the military used the building during World War II. "Modern art was not particularly popular at that time, and these were very abstract pieces," she said. http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/18/nyregion/18NEWA.html?ex=1041224924&ei=1&en=827c0041717f0026 HOW TO ADVERTISE --------------------------------- For information on advertising in e-mail newsletters or other creative advertising opportunities with The New York Times on the Web, please contact onlinesales@nytimes.com or visit our online media kit at http://www.nytimes.com/adinfo For general information about NYTimes.com, write to help@nytimes.com. Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company