Isra-Mart srl: Our airports ain't what they used to be

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Two classic American airport buildings are in the process of disappearing.

Over at New York's Kennedy airport, crews are laying waste to I.M. Pei's Terminal 6. I was there the other day, taking in the destruction from the elevated walkway between JetBlue and the JFK AirTrain. The gateside section has been annihilated, the earth turned inside-out to a depth of two stories, as if it took a direct hit from a couple of bunker busters. The main building, with its boxy rectangular rooftop and exterior glass walls, awaits the bulldozers.

The facility opened in 1970 as the home of National Airlines. It was called the "Sundrome" -- a nod to National's yellow and orange sunburst logo, and its popular routes between the Northeast and Florida. After National was folded into Pan Am, the terminal was taken over by TWA. It was later used by JetBlue, then abandoned when that carrier moved to the new (and much overrated) Terminal 5. It has been vacant since 2008.

If it's any consolation, right next door, enveloped by the JetBlue complex, Eero Saarinen's landmark TWA "Flight Center" still stands -- albeit in a state of restoration limbo. Saved from the wrecking ball in 2003, it was supposed to serve as an entryway lobby and ticketing plaza for JetBlue's T5. For now it remains semi-derelict and only partly renovated. I wish they'd finish the thing so that more people could appreciate what is arguably the most architecturally significant airport terminal in the world.

Pei and Saarinen, a half-minute walk from each other. Our airports ain't what they used to be.

Over on the north side of Queens, meanwhile, say goodbye to the 40-year-old control tower at LaGuardia. Frequent fliers remember this building well -- hourglass-shaped and of modest height, bejeweled with a top-to-bottom series of portholes. It was an odd, playful structure.