The East Side Airline Terminal was one of three air terminals in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Opening in 1953, and occupying the full block west of 1st Avenue between 37th Street and 38th Street, the East Side Airline Terminal served as a location where passengers could purchase tickets and check baggage before boarding buses that would transport them to JFK Airport, LaGuardia Airport, or Newark Airport.[1][2][3] Bus operations at the terminal ended in 1984. The building was sold to private developers in 1985 and was largely incorporated into the base of a new 57-story apartment building built on the site.
The East Side Airline Terminal was the second air terminal constructed in Midtown Manhattan. In 1946, only five years after the 42nd Street Airlines Terminal had opened on Park Avenue across from Grand Central Terminal, plans were announced to construct a new air terminal on the east side of Manhattan to provide bus service to La Guardia Field and Idlewild Airport, the latter of which was being constructed at the time. The site selected for the new terminal was on the west side of First Avenue between 37th and 38th streets, adjacent to the entrance to the Queens–Midtown Tunnel, which would allow buses traveling to and from the two airports in Queens to avoid traffic congestion on streets in the area of the 42nd Street Airlines Terminal.[4]
The new terminal was planned to completed by 1950 and constructed using private funds by Manhattan Air Terminals, Inc. A vacant parcel of land owned by the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority (TBTA) at the northwest corner of First Avenue and 38th Street was agreed to be sold to Manhattan Air Terminals, Inc.; the remaining parcels on the site—which included apartment buildings, stores, and a gas station—were planned to be purchased from private owners.[4][5]
By the end of 1948, most of the property had been acquired, but one of the parcels held out by increasing its selling price each time a purchase offer was made. New York City Mayor William O'Dwyer suggested that the TBTA get involved, and the authority agreed to build the airline terminal provided that modifications were made to the terminal's design and the airlines agreed to several conditions, including signing binding leases for the term of a bond issue, pledging set revenues, and reimbursing the city for lost revenue on property taxes.[6] An agreement between the TBTA and airlines for construction of the new terminal was ultimately reached in August 1950.[7]
Contracts were signed for financing the new terminal on July 3, 1951, and construction began on July 25, 1951. The terminal, which cost $6,841,000 to construct, was built and owned by the TBTA and leased to the East Side Airlines Terminal Corporation, a private entity composed of ten domestic airlines that used the facility: American, Capital, Colonial, Eastern, National, Northeast, Northwest, Pan American, Trans World and United.[1][8][9][10]
The facility was dedicated on November 30, 1953 and opened the following day;[1][11][12] it was designed by architect John B. Peterkin.[1] When the terminal opened on December 1, it was served by 20 major airlines operating at the airports serving New York City.[13] In addition to the 10 domestic that formed the East Side Airlines Terminal Corporation, the other tenants in the terminal included 10 foreign airlines: Air France, British Overseas Airways Corporation, El Al, Linee Aeree Italiane, KLM, Sabena, Scandinavian Airlines System, Swissair, Trans-Canada Air Lines and Linea Aeropostal Venezolana.[11][13]
The East Side Airline Terminal, with its immediate proximity to the Queens–Midtown Tunnel, replaced bus service from the 42nd Street Airlines Terminal, which was renamed the Airlines Building and became a ticketing-only facility until it was demolished in 1978.[14][15] Upon its opening, the East Side Airline Terminal became the sole point of arrival and departure for all airport buses providing service to and from Manhattan, consolidating bus operations to a single location. Other buses that had been providing service between the airports and various airline ticket offices located in Midtown Manhattan were also discontinued. The airlines had been forced to open up ticket offices in other Manhattan locations because they had outgrown the space available in the 42nd Street Airlines Terminal due to the growth in air travel.[6][16][17]
At the East Side Airline Terminal, passengers entered from the east or west sides of the building and took escalators or stairs to a rotunda on the second floor, which was a large hall lined with domestic airline ticket counters and bus gates. A through-block taxiway and pedestrian arcade was located on the east side of the building, running between 37th and 38th streets, and another taxi driveway was provided along a portion of Tunnel Approach Street near the southwestern corner of the terminal. Buses would enter the western portion of the building from 38th Street, drive up a ramp to a U-shaped roadway around the second floor that contained 15 passenger loading platforms, and descend a ramp to exit the western portion of the building on 37th Street across from the entrance to the Queens–Midtown Tunnel. A mezzanine level above the rotunda included ticket counters for international air carriers and office space. The rooftop included 275 public parking spaces that were accessed by autos via a separate entrance and ramp at the northwest corner of the building. A bus garage and repair and servicing facilities were located in the basement.[1][2][16] The rooftop was designed to accommodate helicopters if the development of a heliport became necessary in the future.[18][19]
Bus service from the East Side Airline Terminal to Newark Airport was discontinued when the West Side Airlines Terminal opened in 1955. The location of the new terminal on the West Side near the Lincoln Tunnel eliminated the need for buses to travel crosstown on 42nd Street and shortened the travel time from 40 minutes to 21 minutes.[20][21]
By the 1970s, most airlines had acquired baggage handling sites at the airports. The West Side terminal closed in 1972 and the East Side terminal was itself threatened with closure the following year when the airlines refused to renew their original 20-year lease.[22][23] Closure of the East Side terminal was opposed by elected officials and civic groups, which led to negotiations by the city to prevent the terminal from closing. The TBTA agreed to keep the terminal open for three additional months while working out plans to continue operations; at that time the terminal was operating at an annual deficit of about $750,000. Bus fares were subsequently increased to enable the facility to break even.[24][25][26]
In 1976, the terminal's rooftop parking was converted to a tennis facility operated by the Murray Hill Racquet Club. The club had ten Har-Tru courts in two pressurized air bubbles.[27][28]
A report issued by New York City Comptroller Harrison J. Goldin in 1982 recommended that the city should negotiate new terms with the TBTA or the agency should relocate the terminal and sell the building because it was producing inadequate revenue.[29] Eventually Carey moved its bus operations to the Port Authority Bus Terminal in 1984, leaving the East Side terminal operating primarily as rental space for various tenants, including the tennis club.[30][31][32]
In 1985 the property was sold to developers for $90.6 million and became the eventual site of the 57-story The Corinthian condominium.[33] Most of the terminal itself was retained and incorporated into the base of the new development as office space.[34][35]