The Iconic Marine Air Terminal at LaGuardia Airport

In 2022, with the completion of LaGuardia Airport’s transition into a 21st-century entryway into New York City, the stunning new Terminal B and Terminal C have largely taken center stage in the news and by passengers traveling through them…and deservedly so. But across the field stands another terminal that preceded these state-of-the-art terminals, namely the Marine Air Terminal (or Terminal A). And while its size and scope of services are diminutive in comparison, it is no less impressive in its design and scope in aviation history.

The historic Marine Air Terminal was designed in the Art Deco style by architects Delano & Aldrich and is constructed of a two-story circular core with an attic, from which a rectangular entrance pavilion and two symmetrical one-story wings project. The main part of the building is tiered in a ‘wedding cake’ configuration. The first and second stories have windows that encircle the building, framed by dark brick and separated by a faceted brick panel. Above a simple projecting stainless steel cornice on the first story is a smooth parapet wall behind the roof-top observation deck and promenade, and on the tier of the second story is a frieze of flying fish.

These golden fish fly through the air against a background of a wave-patterned sea executed in two shades of blue. The attic on the third floor is sheathed in stainless steel panels, as is the original control tower at the rear of this tier.

The entrance pavilion is composed of a three-story rectangular center section. At the center is a bank of four stainless steel doors with grilles in the form of two stylized winged globes. The core housed airport-related waiting rooms, a mailroom, health, customs inspection, and detention offices. On the circular interior wall is the restored mural, ‘Flight,’ by artist James Brooks.

This epic mural, measuring 237 feet long by 12 feet high, depicts the history of humanity’s quest for the skies, from Greek mythology to the 1930s. Panels range from Icarus and Daedalus to the Wright brothers, culminating in the final scene of a Yankee Clipper landing on the bay.

On July 9, 1982, the Marine Air Terminal at LaGuardia Airport obtained National Historic Landmark status (NRHP#82003397) on the National Register of Historic Places.

In 1995, the Port Authority contracted the architectural firm Beyer Blinder Belle to conduct a significant multi-phase restoration of the Marine Air Terminal, completed in 2005. The restoration included the reconstruction of the front entrance portal, the repair and replacement of the extensive Tennessee Pink Marble flooring and walls, the addition of a removed historic staircase, and the introduction of new period storefronts within the historic rotunda. Extensive exterior restoration of the building included the reconstruction of the building parapets and roofing, restoration of the curved brick facades with their decorative “flying-fish” terra cotta frieze, and replacement of the building’s windows. 

While uses for the terminal have changed, even with the few alterations that have been made to the exterior of the building, its type is unique to the 20th Century. Today, the Marine Air Terminal is the only active airport terminal dating from ‘The Golden Age of the Flying Boat’ when trans-Atlantic passenger flights were made aboard Pan American ‘Clipper Ships’, and it stands proudly alongside today’s successors of the former Terminal B and Terminal C, before their 21st century-age transition.

Aviation historian and Air Cargo News publisher, Geoffrey Arend was a strong advocate for the restoration of the Marine Air Terminal (MAT) at LaGuardia Airport. Arend’s efforts included mounting a photo exhibit in the terminal, helping to raise funds for the restoration of the Flight mural, and supporting the terminal’s designation as a New York City landmark.