After the fair, most pavilions were demolished, while some pavilions remained in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park or were moved elsewhere. Several exhibitors chose to sell off their buildings due to the high cost of demolition, including U.S. Steel and Thailand. In other cases, exhibitors sold off the contents of their pavilions, or people offered to salvage specific parts of pavilions.
Structures at Flushing Meadows–Corona Park The
New York Daily News wrote in 2012 that the remaining structures from the fair "have provided Flushing Meadows–Corona Park with some of its most striking structures". Preserved at the center of the park is the
Unisphere, which is a
New York City designated landmark. Near the Unisphere is the New York City Pavilion, which hosts the
Queens Museum and continues to display
Panorama of the City of New York, an exhibit created for the 1964 fair. Also nearby is the
New York State Pavilion, which is largely unused ; the State Pavilion's former Theaterama is used by the
Queens Theatre in the Park. The U.S. Post Office pavilion became a skating rink, then a warehouse. In the northwestern part of the park, the
New York Hall of Science was preserved as a museum and was expanded in 2004. The Hall of Science includes two rockets from the fair's Space Park. The Port Authority pavilion became the
Terrace on the Park banquet hall. The Winston Churchill Tribute became the
aviary for the neighboring
Queens Zoo, which opened in 1968. Near the zoo is the
Flushing Meadows Carousel. The
World's Fair Marina, built for the 1939 fair and expanded for the 1964 fair, still operates along Flushing Bay. The fair's Press Building became a
New York City Police Department (NYPD) facility, and the Greyhound Building became a
New York City Fire Department facility. NYC Parks and the NYPD jointly took over the fair's main entrance building at the northern end of the site; the structure, known as the Passerelle Building, also includes a ramp to the
New York City Subway's
Willets Point station. Several monuments remain on the sites of former pavilions. The
Column of Jerash, an ancient column of Jordan, stands on the site of the Jordan pavilion near the Unisphere, while a stone bench marking the site of the
Vatican pavilion stands east of the main fountain. A plaque marks the site of the Garden of Meditation. Other buildings remained for several years before being demolished. The Travel and Transportation Pavilion was destroyed in 1967 after a failed conversion to a
fire station, and the
United States Pavilion was demolished in 1977 after extensive deterioration. The Aquacade amphitheater, originally built for the 1939 fair, and was ultimately demolished in 1996. The
Singer Bowl became a sports venue. The
Louis Armstrong Stadium replaced half of the Singer Bowl in 1977, while the remainder of the venue was preserved as a
grandstand, which was razed in 2016.
Structures relocated Other structures were relocated at the end of the fair. Several international pavilions remained near New York City. Denmark's pavilion became a mall in
Westport, Connecticut; India's pavilion became an office building in
Clifton, New Jersey; and Japan's pavilion went to
Manhattanville College. Further away, Austria's pavilion became a
ski lodge in western New York; Malaysia's pavilion was donated to the
University of Plano; the Paris pavilion became a bowling alley in
East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania; and Switzerland's pavilion became a ski lodge in New Hampshire. The Thailand pavilion was rebuilt at
Expo 67 in Montreal, the only structure from the 1964 fair that was reused as a world's fair pavilion. The West Berlin pavilion was acquired by a college in
Woodridge, New York. while another part of the Wisconsin Pavilion was relocated to Pennsylvania and used as a ski lodge. Of the religious exhibits, the Christian Science pavilion was moved to
Poway, California, while the Mormon pavilion became an
meetinghouse in
Plainville, New York. The
US Royal Ferris wheel became the
Uniroyal Giant Tire in
Allen Park, Michigan, In addition, the
Parker Pen pavilion became an administrative building in Missouri. One of the three structures near the World's Fair Marina became a cabin in upstate New York. Other structures, such as the Steaktown USA restaurant, Identity building, and South precinct building, were also acquired by organizations based in New York. In some cases, only part of a pavilion was preserved due to the high cost of preserving the full pavilion. Part of the
Vatican pavilion was moved to Saint Mary Mother of the Redeemer Church in
Groton, Connecticut, the
Coca-Cola pavilion's carillon was moved to
Stone Mountain near
Atlanta, Georgia. The
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York acquired the fair's color televisions, while the fair's cubical lampposts were moved to
Penn Hills Resort in the Poconos. The
Railroad Museum of Long Island in
Riverhead, New York, received the LIRR pavilion's miniature railway, and other Long Island businesses also received objects from the LIRR pavilion. while Travelers Insurance sent its
Triumph of Man exhibit to the
COSI museum in
Columbus, Ohio. The
GE pavilion's
Progressland carousel was first moved to
Disneyland Park in
Anaheim, California, then to the
Magic Kingdom theme park at
Walt Disney World in
Bay Lake, Florida, where it became the Carousel of Progress. The
It's a Small World ride was shipped to
Disneyland in Anaheim, and the
Swiss Sky Ride was moved to
Six Flags Great Adventure in
Jackson Township, New Jersey. The Belgian Village carousel became
Le Galopant at
La Ronde in
Montreal, Quebec, though the ride no longer operates . The fair's
log flume became a ride at
Pirates World in Florida. Some pavilions also became
traveling exhibitions, such as
Clairol's "color carousel" and
Sinclair Oil's dinosaur exhibits; the dinosaurs were ultimately scattered across the United States. A seaplane terminal in
the Bronx salvaged parts of the fair's monorail, Poupées des Paris, and wax museum, ==Reception==