When people think of the 1964 World’s Fair, perhaps the first image that comes to mind is the gleaming steel globe of the Unisphere. Next on the list is the New York State Pavilion, the futuristic cluster of towers that appear to have been plucked from “The Jetsons” and deposited near the Van Wyck Expressway.

But the structures, both in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in Queens, have followed very different arcs in the almost 50 years since the fair.

While the Unisphere was restored and now glows proudly at night, the Pavilion — designed by the architect Philip Johnson — was left to decay, and stands empty and streaked with rust. As the fair’s anniversary approaches this April, the New York City parks department is now trying to figure out what to do with a site that some consider an eyesore and others see as an icon.

“There’s obviously a strong attachment to the Pavilion,” said Dorothy Lewandowski, the Queens parks commissioner. “Interestingly, it’s a younger generation that has expressed the most support for preserving it.”