International Hotel
The backside of this post card shows the International Hotel's address and includes information about the hotel's amenities in the bottom left corner.
This 1968 newspaper advertisement for International Hotel's Chateau Terrace Restaurant provides information about dancing events, luncheons, and for "free unlimited parking."
This newspaper clipping shows the International Hotel as the site for a NAACP conference in 1962.
Known Name(s)
International Hotel
Address
N.Y. Int. Airport, Jamaica 30 Queens, NY
Establishment Type(s)
Hotel
Physical Status
Demolished
Description
International Hotel was located at N.Y. Int. Airport, Jamaica 30 Queens, NY, an address that no longer exists today. With the updates to the airport's landscape, the renaming of roads, and improvements to the airport itself (now John F. Kennedy International Airport), it is difficult to discern where on a map this hotel would have been located.
Nonetheless, post-cards found on Ebay from the 1970s and 80s give a better understanding of what the International Hotel would have looked like.
The building was composed of two rectangular blocks, which joined together at an obtuse angle of about 170 degrees. A large, brown sign titled “INTERNATIONAL HOTEL” sat atop the flat-roofed building. The hotel was six stories high with the ground floor inset and occupying a smaller footprint than the upper stories. The ground floor serves multiple purposes, including providing the main entrance and, at the end, parking for guests.
The upper stories of the building were a tan color and appear to have been made of concrete or a similar looking material. The lower level had an exposed steel frame, painted blue, and a glass curtain wall. The front entrance had a projecting roof to protect guests from the weather.
The front of the building had fifteen pairs of elongated one over two windows per floor, all equipped with blue curtains. Both ends of the building had ten windows, two per floor. In between the windows was an enclosed staircase spanning the second floor to the roof level. This feature provided visual interest to the building.
The postcard claims that the hotel had 520 air-conditioned rooms with a 21-inch television in each room “at no additional charge.” There was a restaurant, cocktail lounge, airport transportation service, multi-lingual staff, and free unlimited parking.
Detailed History
Without a proper address and with the building destroyed, it is difficult to know the owner and operator of the hotel, or any information related to possible guests.
One newspaper advertisement from 1962 stated that the International Hotel hosted the New York State Conference of NAACP Branches. This provides some indication of the activities and events the hotel would have hosted during the time.
The hotel also had many advertisements for its Chateau Terrace Restaurant, with the tagline “How to feel you’re in France without leaving Long Island.” The restaurant served international themed food for lunch and dinner with drinks and “dancing every Saturday night from 9:00.”
