OCTOBER 2016 • lefrak city courier • www.qns.com 19 offers more to explore! About the New York Hall of Science The New York Hall of Science was founded at the 1964–65 World’s Fair and has evolved into New York’s center for interactive science, serving a half million students, teachers, and families each year. However, it wasn’t in the original plan for the World’s Fair. Its inclusion at the Fair came after a prolonged political struggle between a group of planners trying to build a museum of science in Manhattan on one side and Mayor Robert Wagner and World’s Fair Corporation President Robert Moses on the other. Ultimately, the City endorsed a plan to use City dollars to build a Hall of Science pavilion for the World’s Fair and then convert and expand it into a proper museum after the Fair’s completion. Because of this delay, the Hall of Science did not open at the start of the 1964 season. Groundbreaking occurred on June 19, 1963, but construction took place throughout the first summer of the Fair, and the Hall of Science finally opened on September 9, 1964. Following the Fair, months of renovation and exhibit relocation took place before the Hall re-opened as a permanent museum on September 21, 1966. The Great Hall One of New York City’s signature spaces, the Great Hall is NYSCI’s original exhibition gallery, constructed for the 1964-65 World’s Fair. Designed by Wallace K. Harrison, the Great Hall has undulating walls that rise 100-feet tall with no corners or straight segments. Instead, small segments of glass are arranged within a concrete structure, and more than 5,000 2 x 3-foot panels make up the façade which were hung by hooks inlaid into the cast-in-place structure and panels. When built, the Great Hall was the largest poured-in-place concrete structure in the world. The original Great Hall exhibition was Rendezvous in Space, which featured Frank Capra’s final film narrated by Danny Thomas with (uncredited) voices by Mel Blanc. The film was projected onto a suspended screen in the Hall, and when the film ended, two space modules performed a docking maneuver overhead. In his dedication of the Hall, Mayor Robert Wagner said he hoped that in this building “the advances of science will be reflected and the history of science will be dramatized. Here there will be demonstrated the great ladder which leads from the firm footing of tested facts upwards, upwards toward the moon, toward our sister planets, outward into boundless space.” Since the World’s Fair, the Great Hall has been home to a wide array of exhibitions and performances, and beginning in 2008, NYSCI undertook a comprehensive modernization effort with $25 million in capital support from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, the New York City Council and the Office of the Queens Borough President. Location & Contact Information 47-01 111th Street, Corona 718-699-0005 www.nysci.org Hours Monday – Friday, 9:30 am – 5 pm Saturday & Sunday, 10 am – 6 pm Closed Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day General Admission Adults (ages 18 & older): $15 Children (ages 2 – 17): $12 Students (with college ID): $12 Senior Citizens (age 62 & older): $12 General Admission is free on Fridays, 2pm-5pm, and Sundays, 10am-11am. Children under age 18 must be accompanied by an adult. Memberships The Hall of Science offers several individual and family membership plans. General admission is free for members, and discounts are offered for special events. Visit www.nysci.org for more information.
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