Updating the Landmark T.W.A. Terminal at J.F.K., This Time as a Hotel

Aviation has declined from the days when air travel was considered glamorous and exciting. But Tyler Morse, a hotelier planning the first hotel within walking distance of the terminals at Kennedy International Airport, is enthusiastically embracing that earlier time.

Specifically, 1962.

“Sixty-two was a special year: John Kennedy was president, John Glenn circled the Earth, the space race was on,” said Mr. Morse, the chief executive of MCR, a hotel owner and developer in New York. That was also the year that Trans World Airlines opened its flagship terminal at what is now J.F.K.

Joy Kisling was a 20-year-old student at Pace University in Manhattan at the time. Some days, she would drive to the airport after school dressed up for travel and just sit in the lobby.

“In those days, you could walk in and sit on the red cushions and watch the passengers go back and forth,” she said. “I loved the atmosphere.”

Mr. Morse envisions a return to glory when the TWA Hotel opens in 2019 in the old terminal. Tucked into a section of what Mr. Morse claims will be the largest hotel lobby in the world, at 200,000 square feet, will be a museum celebrating midcentury design, the dawn of the jet age and, yes, the terminal itself.

“Probably I’m crazy, but I love the building,” Mr. Morse said. “It’s probably one of the most special buildings in America, and to be able to bring it back to life is a treat.”