The Queens Museum (formerly the Queens Museum of Art) is an art museum and educational center at Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Queens, New York City, United States. Established in 1972, the museum includes the Panorama of the City of New York, a room-sized scale model of the five boroughs of New York City built for the 1964 New York World's Fair. Its collection includes a large archive of artifacts from both the 1939 and 1964 World's Fairs, a selection of which is on display. , Queens Museum's director is Debra Wimpfheimer.
The museum's building was constructed for the 1939 New York World's Fair as the New York City Pavilion. The structure was used as an ice-skating and roller-skating rink during the 1940s and 1950s, except when it housed the United Nations General Assembly from 1946 to 1951. The building also served as the New York City Pavilion for the 1964 World's Fair and was preserved following the fair. The museum opened in the northern part of the building in November 1972. The museum was renovated in the late 1970s, during which a community gallery was added; another renovation in the 1990s added an entrance from the east. The museum was expanded significantly in the 2010s, during which the ice rink was closed. Another expansion was announced in the 2020s.
History
Early building use
1939 World's Fair
The Queens Museum is located in the New York City Pavilion at Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, The fair was first announced in 1935, and engineering consultant J. Franklin Bell drew up preliminary plans for the fairground the next year, including a structure for the New York City government. The building was originally proposed as a two-story "glass house", but it was ultimately erected as a more conventional rectangular building. Mayor Fiorello La Guardia said he wanted the building to showcase "modern municipal government in all its aspects". In April 1937, the New York City Board of Estimate approved the sale of $180,000 in bonds to fund the construction of the City Building's foundation. That August, Psaty & Fuhrman submitted a low bid of $556,000 for the building's construction. The building's ceremonial cornerstone was laid in January 1938, and the facade was completed by the beginning of May. La Guardia used the building as his "summer City Hall" during mid-1938, and his office there was fitted with temporary mechanical equipment while other parts of the building were being completed.
The New York City Pavilion ultimately cost $1.645 million. The pavilion was the second-largest structure at the fair, after the United States pavilion, and it was intended as a permanent structure for the outset, in contrast to nearly all the other structures, which would have been demolished. Next to the building was a plaza named City Hall Square, which separated it from the Trylon and Perisphere, the central monument of the 1939 fair. Around it was a spiral hedge ranging from tall, Malvina Hoffman designed a bas-relief called Dances of the Races to the east of the building, while William Zorach designed the sculptural group Builders of the Future to the west. Inside the pavilion were dioramas, murals, models, and displays about various departments of the city government. The pavilion included exhibits on such topics as the WNYC radio station, the city's courts, and the Independent Subway System, There were a total of 63 exhibits, as well as an auditorium. The fair ran for two 6-month seasons until October 26, 1940. A special edition of New York Advancing, a book about the city government, was published in celebration of the fair's opening. The special edition included an official guide to the New York City Pavilion. After the end of the fair's first season in November 1939, the space east of the building was converted to a concert area, and furniture was stored in the pavilion prior to the 1940 season. A memorial plaque was installed on the New York City Pavilion after two policemen were killed in 1940 while attempting to defuse a bomb nearby.
United Nations and skating rink
thumb|The rink
The New York City Building was one of seven structures at Flushing Meadows to be preserved following the 1939 fair.