They’re trying to pick up the pieces.
Five historic mosaics commemorating the Queens World’s Fairs will be demolished over the next few months — despite a passionate appeal from preservationists to save pieces of New York’s past.
This has angered history lovers Parks Department Flushing Meadows is giving up hope of restoring the intricate medallions at the entrance to Corona Park, with officials claiming the severely eroded tiles pose a safety hazard to pedestrians.
“In Europe and the Middle East, mosaics have been rediscovered after many centuries of abandonment. They are exposed and they exist. Archaeologists and government officials make great efforts to preserve them – why should Queens, aka the World’s Borough, be treated any differently?” Michael Pearlman, founder of the Rego-Forest Conservation Council, was outraged.
Pearlman says preservationists have been banging the drum to save the deteriorating Passarell Plaza mosaics for 15 years, but their pleas have fallen on deaf ears.
Perlman alleged that the Parks Department had contributed to this rapid decay by “obnoxiously” tossing the artwork to melt the snow and driving heavy vehicles onto the installations.
“Nobody is taking care of them. I’ve been taking pictures of them for over a year and a half and they just keep getting worse and worse,” said Gloria Nash, 70, whose upcoming book ”Looking Back at the Future” ’39 and ’64 World Describes the surviving remains of. Fairs in Queens and around the world.
About ten of the medals have already been lost to history since they were placed on the grounds in 1997, near David Dinkins Circle. Billie Jean King Tennis CenterAs a tribute to the ’39-40 and ’64-65 fairs.
Each mosaic honored a different scene of the historic fairs, including the synchronized swimming show called “Aquacade” and the still-standing New York State Pavilion, which once invited parkgoers to climb to its observation deck and view the fairs from above. Had done. Most have either been filled in with concrete or demolished entirely.
Today only five remain: a replica of Salvador Dali’s “Venus”, the World’s Fair Fountain, the Hall of Science and Elsie the Cow, the real-life mascot for Borden Daly who visited the ’39 World’s Fair.
The largest remaining mosaic is a tribute to Andy Warhol’s portrait of then-Parks Department Commissioner Robert Moses, who organized the ’64 World’s Fair as an opportunity to transform Queens Park.
Every surviving mosaic has been severely destroyed, and the missing tile pieces have been replaced with concrete.
Pearlman, Nash and other members of the Rego-Forest Preservation Council mounted a renewed campaign two years ago to urge the Parks Department to come up with a plan to save the remaining decaying mosaics, but their pleas went unanswered until October, when the agency Reveals that she is going to destroy it. Art installation in its entirety.
Administrators wrote a letter to the conservation group blaming “natural elements” for the decline – and claimed that an expert in 2009 had condemned the installation as a tripping hazard and “not worth saving”.
“After much deliberation, and continued deterioration of the mosaics, NYC Parks has determined that the best course of action would be to remove the mosaics and replace them with pavers similar to the surrounding plazas, making the grade uniform. and thereby address the tripping hazards currently arising. In pieces,” the letter seen by The Post said.
A representative of the Parks Department confirmed that it plans to tear down the medallions within the next calendar year. They declined to say whether they would consider the request to save the artwork.
The colorful mosaics will be replaced with drab, gray pavers similar to those in the surrounding plaza — and there is no hope of preserving the decades-old tribute to Queen’s history.
Instead, the Parks Department will award grant funds of up to $20,000 per year to display temporary art installations.
“It’s really a shame,” Pearlman said recently. A long-lost World’s Fair-era mural rediscovered In a basement in Massachusetts.
“These mosaics were placed here as a tribute decades after the World’s Fairs. It’s amazing how the parks department cares about this…they’re destroying something so symbolic.’
For Nash, who was lucky enough to visit the ’64 World’s Fair as a child, the loss of the mosaics would be nothing short of heartbreaking.
“There are other people who feel the same way. These fairs are very special for many people, not only for old people, but also for young people. I know a lot of young people are interested in the fair even if they’ve never been and I find that amazing,” Nash said.
The pair, along with other preservationists, are hoping the Parks Department will reverse its decision and attempt to properly preserve the remaining five mosaics, whether in their original David Dinkins Circle resting place or at the nearby Queens Museum. Be transferred.
“Art is a gift to the public,” Perlman said.
“Flushing Meadows Corona Park is a public park and I hope they restore the ‘public’ to this public park.”
(TagstoTranslate)Metro(T)US News(T)New York City Life(T)Parks Department(T)Conservation(T)Queens(T)World’s Fair
