Great Escape: The Unisphere

If you live in Queens there's a good chance you've driven by this week's Great Escape dozens of times without ever stopping for a visit.

Officially given landmark status by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission on May 10, 1995, the Unisphere — a 12-story high spherical stainless steel representation of the Earth — is one of the New York City's familiar icons. 

Located in Flushing Meadows Park in Corona, the Unisphere represents global interdependence and peace through understanding.

Conceived and constructed between 1964 to 1965, the Unisphere was commissioned under then mayor Robert F. Wagner, Jr., to celebrate the start of the space age and remains the world's largest global structure ever constructed, rising 140 feet and weighing over 700,000 pounds.

Designed by landscape architect Gilmore D. Clarke, who dedicated his piece to man's achievements on a shrinking globe in an expanding universe, the Unisphere sits on a 100-ton inverted tripod base, centered on a large circular reflecting pool, surrounded by a water-jet fountains giving it the appearance of floating in space.

The centerpiece and visual logo of the 1964-65 New York World's Fair the Unisphere is a New York icon that everyone from Queens should visit at least once.