Flushing Meadows Corona Park

The Hall of Science was constructed for the 1964-65 New York World’s Fair in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park. Max Abramovitz and Wallace K. Harrison, architects of the United Nations Building, the Metropolitan Opera House, and the Perisphere and Trylon of the 1939-40 New York World’s Fair, designed the $8-million structure. The original building featured a concrete wall, with blue glass pieces, curving around an exhibition space 80 feet high. The fair corporation funded the structure, built by the Department of Public Works, as a permanent addition for Flushing Meadows-Corona Park after the fair. The 21-acre Hall of Science first opened to the public on June 15, 1964, and included the adjacent 2-acre United States Space Park. The hall held presentations from many scientific and technological companies like the Martin-Marietta Company, the Upjohn Company, the Hearing Aid Conference, Inc., Abbott Laboratories, Interchemical Corporation, the Atomic Energy Commission, General Aniline & Film Corporation, the American Cancer Society, the American Chemical Society, Airborne Instruments Laboratory, and the Ames Company, Inc.

Over 5,000,000 people visited the Hall of Science during the fair, and from the time it reopened on September 21, 1966, to the time it closed for renovations in 1971, approximately 3,700,000 people visited the hall. The City of New York funded a $24.8 million renovation to accommodate the popularity of the Hall of Science. The hall held a new 20-foot planetarium, a weather station, a Chick and Duck Hatchery, a “Project Discovery” laboratory with modern equipment, and an amateur radio allowing Hall of Science visitors to communicate with the Ontario Science Center in Toronto, Canada, the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, and the Boy Scouts of America Museum in North Brunswick, New Jersey. Visitors could also learn about visual and audio perception with “The Intelligent Eye” and “The Intelligent Ear,” and learn about the Apollo space program with the “Rendezvous in Space” exhibit.

The hall closed again in 1980, and reopened in 1986 with an additional 25,000 square-feet of space and new exhibits. Since that time the Hall of Science has seen big changes. On December 16, 1992, construction began on the first phase of a major renovation funded by Borough President Claire Shulman and the New York City Council. On April 26, 1996, the Hall of Science reopened after its $13 million renovation. The area of the Hall of Science doubled with the addition of a new 47-foot rotunda entrance, a 300-seat auditorium, a 300-seat dining area, and new classroom space. In 1997, the adjacent Science Playground opened to the public. The largest playground of its kind in the Western Hemisphere, the 30,000 square-foot Science Playground utilizes sensory education and teaches children about science through their experience on the playground.

The Hall of Science is now New York City’s only hands-on science and technology museum. Over 240,000 people visit a year. Important displays include “Marvelous Molecules-The Secret of Life,” “Seeing the Light,” “SoundSations- The Inside Story of Audio,” “Realm of the Atom,” “Hidden Kingdoms: The World of Microbes,” “Feedback,” “Windows on the Universe,” and the “Technology Gallery.” Today, the Hall of Science offers over 225 different hands-on exhibits for young and old to learn about science and technology.

Know Before You Go

World's Fair Marina