Years ago there was an effort to repair the two underappreciated fiberglass formations that stand on the Flushing Bay Promenade in Queens. The structures were pavilions from the 1964 World's Fair (the marina, to be exact), and like many things from the Fair, were left to deteriorate. But all this time there has been a mysterious missing third pavilion.
Photo courtesy of Paul Lukas
This weekend the NY Times delivered us a hefty dose of real estate envy with their article about a family who built a cabin in the Adirondacks out of the third pavilion. Carlos Stafford purchased the shell at a surplus auction in 1966 for just a few thousand dollars, and took the auction flier's suggestion of using it to build a summer cottage. The pavilion was taken apart (see the disassembly process here), a home was built in a remote area (a road needed to be built to access it), and "The Glass Camp," as they called it, was ready to be occupied three years later. The 1,1000-square-foot space fit a kitchen, bathroom, dining area, living room, fireplace and four bedrooms.
Today, though Carlos died in 2004, the same family continues to use the cottage. And as for the two identical ones still in Queens, the Parks Department will conduct a study later this year to find out how much it would cost to restore them. You can see more photos of the two remaining structures as they stand today here, and keep updated on their fate right here.
