For a one-of-a kind bar experience, the fuselage of a mid-century Lockheed Constellation L-1649A Starliner aircraft built in 1958 has been transformed by Beyer Blinder Belle and Stonehill Taylor into a nostalgic cocktail lounge for the TWA Hotel—itself a restoration of architect Eero Saarinen’s famed TWA Flight Center completed in 1962 at New York’s JFK (then Idlewild) Airport. Amongst its glamorous interiors, the bar features moments that pay homage to the industrial and technological achievements that defined the era. Connie has gone through a number of incarnations since it first served passengers for TWA until 1962. After becoming an Alaskan bush plane for five years, to later being sold at auction in 1979 for a mere $150, it also became an airdrop for marijuana in the 1980’s. Abandoned in Honduras, and later rescued in Maine during the past few decades, the full design team’s direction for its current use demonstrate the dedication to historic preservation and adaptive reuse along with the TWA building that it compliments. Interior Design firm Stonehill Taylor was challenged with the task of designing the lounge in these unlikely parameters. To achieve the perfect final touch to an already world-class destination, the firm married a contemporary guest experience with design details that transport guests to re-live the glamour and ethos of 1960’s air travel. Working under a tight space with low ceilings challenged the team to find a way to visually open up the space: To achieve this illusion, running almost the full circumference of the cabin at its belly, is a one-foot-wide backlit “reveal” that uncovers the raw bones of the aircraft. The tambour-clad backbar separates the lounge from a rivet-lined brushed-steel backdrop inspired by both the plane’s fuselage and Saarinen’s Gateway Arch elevators in St. Louis. The lounge welcomes guests at the front of the plane just behind the pilot’s cockpit after they’ve ascended from an original staircase that features playful “Up, Up, and Away” lettering in the hotel’s custom typeface. The bold décor of the lounge includes surrounding curtains and upholstered built-ins that evoke the plane’s storied past. Perhaps the most telling style of the era are the bar’s 16 reupholstered airplane seats in a plaid palette of pink, orange, red, and beige hues. Additional accents by Aaron Sciandra include the plane’s window curtains, seat covers, and seatback pockets. Seating vignettes nod to the original styling of the TWA Commodore Club where chili pepper red banquette seating with fold-down drink holders and Saarinen-style tulip tables and stools can be found. Toward the front of the cabin, guests can capture a picture-perfect moment looking out the original “constellation” window, once used to guide the plane by starlight on overnight flights. Toward the back, the design team tapped into a more direct inspiration: installing reproductions of two 8-by-4-foot murals by artist Mario Zamparelli. The originals, which showed models in destinations from Bangkok to Boston, lined the airplane’s Starlight Lounge, a pre-dinner spot for cocktails in the ‘60s.