Grand Central Terminal: Difference between revisions
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The Main Concourse is the center of Grand Central. The space is cavernous and usually filled with bustling crowds. The ticket booths are here, although many now stand unused or repurposed since the introduction of ticket vending machines. |
The Main Concourse is the center of Grand Central. The space is cavernous and usually filled with bustling crowds. The ticket booths are here, although many now stand unused or repurposed since the introduction of ticket vending machines. |
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The main information booth is in the center of the Concourse. This is a perennial meeting place, and the four-faced clock on top of the information booth is perhaps the most recognizable icon of Grand Central Terminal. |
The main information booth is in the center of the Concourse. This is a perennial meeting place, and the four-faced clock on top of the information booth is perhaps the most recognizable icon of Grand Central Terminal. Within the marble and brass pagoda, lays a secret door which conceals a spiral staircase leading to the lower level information booth. |
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Outside the station, the clock in front of the Grand Central facade facing 42nd Street contains the world’s largest example of [[Tiffany & Co.|Tiffany]] glass and is surrounded by sculptures carved by the John Donnelly Company of [[Minerva]], [[Hercules]] and [[Mercury (mythology)|Mercury]]. For the terminal building [[France|French]] sculptor [[Jules-Alexis Coutan]] created what was at the time of its unveiling, 1914, considered to be the largest sculptural group in the world. It was 48 feet (14.6 m) high, the clock in the center having a circumference of 13 feet (4 m). |
Outside the station, the clock in front of the Grand Central facade facing 42nd Street contains the world’s largest example of [[Tiffany & Co.|Tiffany]] glass and is surrounded by sculptures carved by the John Donnelly Company of [[Minerva]], [[Hercules]] and [[Mercury (mythology)|Mercury]]. Each of the four clock faces are made from Opal and both Sotheby's and Christie's have estimated the value to be between ten and twenty million dollars. For the terminal building [[France|French]] sculptor [[Jules-Alexis Coutan]] created what was at the time of its unveiling, 1914, considered to be the largest sculptural group in the world. It was 48 feet (14.6 m) high, the clock in the center having a circumference of 13 feet (4 m). |
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The upper level tracks are reached from the Grand Concourse or from various hallways and passages branching off from it. |
The upper level tracks are reached from the Grand Concourse or from various hallways and passages branching off from it. |
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There are two peculiarities to this ceiling. First, the sky is backwards. Second, all of the stars are slightly displaced compared to the current sky. This is because the ceiling is based on a medieval manuscript, which visualized the sky as it would look from outside the [[celestial sphere]]: This is why the constellations are backwards. Since the celestial sphere is an abstraction (stars are not all at equal distances from Earth), this view does not correspond to the actual view from anywhere in the universe. The reason for the displacement of the stars is that the manuscript showed a (reflected) view of the sky in the [[Middle Ages]], and since then the stars have shifted due to [[Precession#Precession of the equinoxes|precession of the equinoxes]]. |
There are two peculiarities to this ceiling. First, the sky is backwards. Second, all of the stars are slightly displaced compared to the current sky. This is because the ceiling is based on a medieval manuscript, which visualized the sky as it would look from outside the [[celestial sphere]]: This is why the constellations are backwards. Since the celestial sphere is an abstraction (stars are not all at equal distances from Earth), this view does not correspond to the actual view from anywhere in the universe. The reason for the displacement of the stars is that the manuscript showed a (reflected) view of the sky in the [[Middle Ages]], and since then the stars have shifted due to [[Precession#Precession of the equinoxes|precession of the equinoxes]]. |
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This is not a common explanation and most people believe that when French artist Paul Helleu painted it in 1913 he simply made a mistake and reversed the image. This was an imbarrasment to the Vanderbilts and they explained it away by saying that the ceiling depicted the celestial sphere as it would look outside the celestial sphere, from God's vantage point. |
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===Dining Concourse=== |
===Dining Concourse=== |
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Revision as of 14:17, 18 May 2006
- This article is about the New York City commuter rail station. For the adjacent subway station, see 42nd Street-Grand Central (New York City Subway). For the former station in Chicago, see Grand Central Station (Chicago).
Grand Central Terminal (often still called Grand Central Station) is a train station at 15 Vanderbilt Avenue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. GCT (as it is often called) is located at 42nd Street and Park Avenue. Built by the New York Central Railroad (for which it was named) in the heyday of long-distance passenger trains, it is the largest train station in the world by number of platforms: 44, with 67 tracks along them. They are situated on two underground levels with 41 tracks on the upper level and 26 on the lower.
Currently it serves commuters traveling on the Metro-North Railroad to Westchester, Putnam, and Dutchess counties in New York, and Fairfield and New Haven counties in Connecticut.
Although it has been properly called "Grand Central Terminal" for a century, many people continue to refer to it as "Grand Central Station." Technically, that is the name of the nearby post office and major IRT Lexington Avenue Line station of the New York City Subway, as well as the name of a previous station on the site.
Layout
Besides train platforms, Grand Central contains restaurants (the most famous of which is the Oyster Bar), fast food outlets, delis, newsstands, a food market, an annex of the New York Transit Museum and over forty retail stores.
Main Concourse
© 2004 Metropolitan Transportation Authority
The Main Concourse is the center of Grand Central. The space is cavernous and usually filled with bustling crowds. The ticket booths are here, although many now stand unused or repurposed since the introduction of ticket vending machines.
The main information booth is in the center of the Concourse. This is a perennial meeting place, and the four-faced clock on top of the information booth is perhaps the most recognizable icon of Grand Central Terminal. Within the marble and brass pagoda, lays a secret door which conceals a spiral staircase leading to the lower level information booth.
Outside the station, the clock in front of the Grand Central facade facing 42nd Street contains the world’s largest example of Tiffany glass and is surrounded by sculptures carved by the John Donnelly Company of Minerva, Hercules and Mercury. Each of the four clock faces are made from Opal and both Sotheby's and Christie's have estimated the value to be between ten and twenty million dollars. For the terminal building French sculptor Jules-Alexis Coutan created what was at the time of its unveiling, 1914, considered to be the largest sculptural group in the world. It was 48 feet (14.6 m) high, the clock in the center having a circumference of 13 feet (4 m).
The upper level tracks are reached from the Grand Concourse or from various hallways and passages branching off from it.
Ceiling
In 1999, a twelve-year restoration of Grand Central revealed to commuters that the concourse had an elaborately decorated astrological ceiling—painted in 1912 by French artist Paul César Helleu—which had previously been obscured by decades of coal and diesel smoke.
There are two peculiarities to this ceiling. First, the sky is backwards. Second, all of the stars are slightly displaced compared to the current sky. This is because the ceiling is based on a medieval manuscript, which visualized the sky as it would look from outside the celestial sphere: This is why the constellations are backwards. Since the celestial sphere is an abstraction (stars are not all at equal distances from Earth), this view does not correspond to the actual view from anywhere in the universe. The reason for the displacement of the stars is that the manuscript showed a (reflected) view of the sky in the Middle Ages, and since then the stars have shifted due to precession of the equinoxes.
This is not a common explanation and most people believe that when French artist Paul Helleu painted it in 1913 he simply made a mistake and reversed the image. This was an imbarrasment to the Vanderbilts and they explained it away by saying that the ceiling depicted the celestial sphere as it would look outside the celestial sphere, from God's vantage point.
Dining Concourse
The Dining Concourse is below the Main Concourse. It contains many fast food outlets and restaurants, the world-famous Oyster Bar with its Guastavino tile vaults, and provides access to the lower level tracks. The two levels are connected by numerous stairs, ramps, and escalators.
Vanderbilt Hall
Vanderbilt Hall, named for the Vanderbilt family who built and owned the station, is located just off the Main Concourse. It is used and rented out for various events.
Omega Board
The Omega Board was an electromechanical display mounted in Grand Central Terminal used to display the times and track numbers of arriving and departing trains. Shaped like a large black block with rows of flip panels to display train information on the front, the Board was visually incongruous with the rest of the terminal; its boxy shape contrasted strongly with the classical design of the Terminal. It was replaced with a more aesthetically fitting electronic display during renovation of Grand Central Terminal in the 1990s.
Subway station
The subway platforms at Grand Central are reached from the Main Concourse. Built by the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) rather than the New York Central Railroad, the subway areas of the station lack the majesty that is present throughout most of the rest of Grand Central. The Grand Central shuttle platforms were originally the Grand Central express stop on the original IRT line, opened in 1904. Once the IRT Lexington Avenue Line was extended uptown in 1918, the original tracks were converted to shuttle use. One track remains connected to the downtown Lexington Avenue local track but is not in revenue service. A fire in the 1960s destroyed much of the shuttle station, which has been rebuilt. The only sign of the fire damage is truncated steel beams visible above the platforms.
Grand Central North
Grand Central North is a relatively recent addition that provides access to Grand Central from 47th and 48th streets. It is connected to the Main Concourse through two long hallways, known as the Northwest and Northeast passages, which run parallel to the tracks.
History
Three buildings serving essentially the same function have stood on this site. The original large and imposing scale was intended by the New York Central Railroad to enhance competition and compare favorably in the public eye with the arch-rival Pennsylvania Railroad and smaller lines.
Grand Central Depot
Grand Central Depot was designed to bring the trains of the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad, the New York and Harlem Railroad, and the New York and New Haven Railroad together in one large station. The station opened in October 1871, but the exact dates are not clear. The original plan was for the Harlem Railroad to start using it on October 9, 1871 (moving from their 27th Street depot), the New Haven Railroad on October 16, and the Hudson River Railroad on October 23, with the staggering done to minimize confusion. However the Hudson River Railroad didn't move to it until November 1, which puts the other two dates in doubt. The headhouse building containing passenger service areas and railroad offices was an "L" shape with a short leg running east-west on 42nd Street and a long leg running north-south on Vanderbilt Avenue. The train shed, north and east of the headhouse, had two innovations in U.S. practice: the platforms were elevated to the height of the cars and the roof was a balloon shed with a clear span over all of the tracks.
The New Haven and New York Central trains were initially in side by side different stations creating chaos in baggage transfer. The combined Grand Central Station combined the two rairoads.
Cornelius Vanderbilt died on the same day that a blizzard caused a collapse of the Grand Central depot glass roof.
Grand Central Station
-
The exterior of Grand Central Station c. 1904. -
The interior of Grand Central Station c. 1904.
Between 1899 and 1900, the headhouse was essentially demolished (it was expanded from 3 to 6 stories and an entirely new facade put on it) but the train shed was kept. The tracks that had previously continued south of 42nd Street were removed and the train yard reconfigured in an effort to reduce congestion and turn-around time for trains. The reconstructed building was renamed Grand Central Station.
Grand Central Terminal
Construction
Between 1903 and 1913, the entire building was torn down in phases and replaced by the current Grand Central Terminal which was designed by the architectural firms of Reed and Stern and Warren and Wetmore who entered an agreement to act as the associated architects of Grand Central Terminal in February of 1904. Reed & Stern were responsible for the overall design of the station, Warren and Wetmore added architectural details and the Beaux-Arts style. Charles Reed was appointed the chief executive for the collaboration between the two firms on the project who promtly appointed Alfred T. Fellheimer head of the combined design team. This work was accompanied by the electrification of the three railroads using the station and the burial of the approach in the Park Avenue tunnel. The result of this was the creation of several blocks worth of prime real estate in Manhattan, which were then sold for a large sum of money.
For the Terminal Building French sculptor Jules-Alexis Coutan created what was at the time of its unveiling, 1914, considered to be the largest sculptural group in the world. It was 48 feet high, the clock in the center having a circumference of 13 feet. It depicted Mercury flanked by Hercules and Minerva and was carved by the John Donnelly Company.
Covering Park Avenue
In order to accommodate the ever-growing rail traffic into the restricted Midtown area, William J. Wilgus, chief engineer of the New York Central Railroad took advantage of the recent electrification technology to propose a novel scheme: a bi-level station situated below ground.
Incoming trains would go underground under Park Avenue, and proceed to an upper-level incoming station if they were mainline trains, or further below to a lower-level platform if they were suburban trains. In addition, turning loops within the station itself precluded complicated switching moves to bring back the trains to the coach yards for servicing. Outgoing mainline trains were backed-up the conventional way to upper-level platforms.
Burying electric trains underground brought an additional advantage to the railroads: the ability to sell above-ground air rights over the tracks and platforms for real-estate development. With time, all the area around Grand Central Terminal saw prestigious apartment and office buildings being erected, which turned the area into the most desirable commercial office district of Manhattan.
The terminal also did away with bifurcating Park Avenue by introducing a "circumferential elevated driveway" that allowed Park Avenue traffic to traverse around the Terminal building and over 42nd Street without encumbering nearby streets. The terminal building was also designed to be able to eventually reconnect both segments of 43rd Street by going through the concourse if the City of New York demanded it.
Terminal City
The construction of Grand Central created a mini-city within New York, including a Commodore Hotel and various office buildings. It spurred construction throughout the neighborhood in the 1920s including the Chrysler Building.
In 1928, the New York Central built its headquarters in a 34-story building (now called the Helmsley Building) straddling Park Avenue on the north side of the Terminal's office building.
From 1948 to 1964 CBS headquartered its intial television broadcasting center in the station until 1964 in "Studio 40." The CBS Evening News began its broadcasts there with Douglas Edwards. Many of the historic events during this period, such as John Glenn's Mercury Atlas 6 space mission, were broadcast from this location (although the Walter Cronkite broadcasts were from studios in Washington, D.C.). Broadcasts from the studio were famed for shaky videos caused by train arrivals.
Proposals for demolition
In 1947, over 65 million people – the equivalent of 40 percent of the population of the United States traveled through Grand Central. However railroads soon fell into a major decline with competition from automobiles and intercity plane traffic.
In 1954 William Zeckendorf proposed replacing Grand Central with an 80-story, 4.8-million square foot tower, 500 feet taller than the Empire State Building. I.M. Pei created a pinched-cylinder design took the form of a glass cylinder with a wasp waist. The plan was abandoned. In 1955 Erwin S. Wolfson made his first proposal for a tower north of the Terminal replacing the Terminal's six-story office building. A revised Wolfson plan was approved in 1958 and the PanAm Building (now the MetLife Building was completed in 1963).
Although the PanAm building bought time for the terminal, the New York Central Railroad continued its precipitous decline. In 1968 facing bankruptcy it merged with the Pennsylvania Railroad to form the Penn Central Railroad. The Pennsylvania Railroad was in its own precipitous decline and in 1964 had demolished Pennsylvania Station to make way for an office building and the new Madison Square Garden.
In 1968 Penn Central unveiled plans for a tower designed by Marcel Breuer even bigger than the PanAm building to be built over Grand Central.
The plans drew huge opposition including most prominently Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. She said
- "Is it not cruel to let our city die by degrees, stripped of all her proud monuments, until there will be nothing left of all her history and beauty to inspire our children? If they are not inspired by the past of our city, where will they find the strength to fight for her future? Americans care about their past, but for short term gain they ignore it and tear down everything that matters. Maybe… this is the time to take a stand, to reverse the tide, so that we won't all end up in a uniform world of steel and glass boxes."
New York City filed a suit to stop the construction. The resulting case, Penn Central Transportation Co. v. New York City, was the first time that the Supreme Court decided in 1978 ruled on a matter of historic preservation. The Court saved the terminal, basing its decision on the notion that only if a change to a historic structure prevented said structure's owner from bankruptcy could such an alteration be made.
Penn Central went into bankruptcy in 1970 in what was then the biggest corporate bankruptcy in American history. Its holding company which eventually became American Premier Underwriters continues to own the station. The MTA via Metro North in 1993 signed a long term lease and began a massive restoration.
Restorations
Donald Trump
Grand Central both inside and outside and its neighborhood fell on hard times during the financial collapse of its host railroads as well as the near bankruptcy of New York City itself.
In 1974 Donald Trump bought the Commodore Hotel to the east of the terminal for $10 million and then worked out a deal with Jay Pritzker to transform it into one of the first Grand Hyatt hotels. Trump negotiated various tax breaks and in the process agreed to renovate the exterior of the terminal. He hung a huge "TRUMP" banner on the terminal during the restoration.
The Grand Hyatt was to open in 1980 and the neighborhood immediately began a transformation. Trump was to sell his interest in the hotel for $142 million. It established Trump as a big time player in New York real estate.
Metro North
Throughout this period the interior of Grand Central was characterized by huge billboard advertisements with perhaps the most famous being the giant Kodak Colorama photos running along the entire east side of the terminal and the Westclox "Big Ben" clock over the south concourse.
Amtrak left the station on April 7, 1991, with the completion of the Empire Connection, which allowed trains from Albany, Toronto and Montreal to directly serve Penn Station. Previously, travellers would have to change stations via subway, bus, or cab. Since then, Grand Central has exclusively served Metro-North Railroad.
In 1993 the the MTA and Metro North signed a long term lease on the building and began massive renovations. All the billboards were removed. These renovations were mostly finished in 1998, though some of the minor refits (such as the replacement of eletromechanical train info displays by the entry of each track with electronic displays) were not completed until 2000. The most striking effect was the restoration of the Main Concourse ceiling, revealing the painted skyscape and constellations which had been painted in 1912 by French artist Paul César Helleu and that had been hidden beneath soot and grime. Other modifications included a complete overhaul of the Terminal's superstructure and the replacement of the electromechanical Omega Board train arrival/departure display with a purely electronic display that was designed to fit into the architecture of the Terminal aesthetically.
The exterior is once again being cleaned and restored, starting with the west façade on Vanderbilt Avenue and gradually working counterclockwise. The northern facade, abutting the MetLife Building, will be left as is. The project involves cleaning the facade, rooftop light courts and statues; filling in cracks, repointing the stones on the façade, restoring the copper roof and the building's cornice, repairing the large windows of the Main Concourse, and removing the remaining blackout paint that was applied to the windows during World War II. The result will be a cleaner, more attractive and structurally sound exterior, and the windows will allow much more light into the Main Concourse. The work should be finished in 2007; as of 2006, restoration of the west and south façades has been completed.
Future Plans
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority's East Side Access project calls for Long Island Rail Road trains to use the terminal by 2012 to help relieve overcrowding in Penn Station and shorten commutes for Long Islanders who work on Manhattan's East Side. [1]. The plan involves building a new tunnel under the East River and is projected to cost $5 billion. It is subject to considerable debate.
Impact on design of transit centers
The design for Grand Central Terminal was an innovation in the way transit hubs were designed, and continues to influence designers to this day. One new concept was the use of ramps (as opposed to staircases) for conducting the flow of traffic through the facility (as well as aiding with the transport of luggage to and from the trains). Another was the wrapping of Park Avenue around the Terminal above the street, creating a second level for the picking up and dropping off of passengers. As airline travel superseded the railroads in the latter half of the 20th century, the design innovations of Grand Central Terminal were later incorporated into the hub airports that were built.
Grand Central Terminal in popular culture
As an accessible, photogenic New York City landmark, and as one of the prototypical Manhattan experiences, the terminal has had many appearances in pop culture.
The terminal is seen in films such as North by Northwest, Chronos, Men in Black, Carlito's Way, Extreme Measures, K-PAX, Madagascar, and is prominently featured in two 1940s MGM films, The Clock and Grand Central Murder. In Terry Gilliam's 1991 The Fisher King, Grand Central commuters burst into a spontaneous waltz. The front of the terminal is seen in the opening scenes of Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.
In fiction, atomic pioneer Leo Szilard (one of the senior researchers on the Manhattan Project) wrote a short story entitled "Grand Central Station," about alien scientists who explore Grand Central Station as part of their mission to learn how life on Earth became extinct. A highly-regarded novel, By Grand Central Station I sat down and Wept, was written by Elizabeth Smart, in 1945.
And a dramatic radio program called "Grand Central Station" was broadcast from 1937 through 1995, beginning on the NBC Radio Blue Network, and opening with the words, "As a bullet train seeks its target, shining rails in every part of our great country are aimed at Grand Central Station, heart of the nation's greatest city."
The first four episodes of the long-running TV panel show "What's My Line?" were broadcast from CBS Studio 41, which was located in an upstairs area of Grand Central Terminal. The episodes aired from Feb. 20 to March 16, 1950.
In the movie Superman, starring Christopher Reeve, Grand Central Terminal is depicted as having an abandoned section underground that is used as headquarters by Lex Luthor, and more than one short story describes abandoned sections of Grand Central that lead the protagonists into adventure.
In the hit '80s cartoon The Real Ghostbusters, the protagonists visited the terminal three times. Once in the episode "Last Train To Oblivion," then in "Look Homeward Ray" and finally in "I Am The City." The Extreme Ghostbusters visited it in "Be Careful What You Wish For" and it featured incorrectly as Penn Station (to the point of featuring the long demolished Penn Station exterior and Grand Central's main concourse).
During a segment on Robot Chicken, the protagonist of the skit tells a taxi driver the actual name of Grand Central Terminal. The scene continues on to her riding Metro-North Railroad, saying that the Hudson Line rules, and that she saved $5 on a monthly Uni-Ticket pass.
Grand Central was destroyed by meteorites in Armageddon.
In 2003, Grand Central Terminal was featured in the Peanuts home video, I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown.
In 2006, Grand Central Station was used as a trick question in the movie Inside Man.
Statistics
- Size
- Covers 49 acres (20 ha) of land, 33 miles (53 km) of track, 44 platforms
- Trains
- 660 Metro-North commuter trains
- Commuters
- About 125,000 a day
- Visitors
- 575,000 a day [excludes commuters]
- Cost of renovation 1996–98
- 250 million dollars
- Retail Businesses
- 95
- Oldest Business
- Oyster Bar, opened 1913
- Meals served in terminal daily
- 10,000
- Percentage of trains on time
- 98
- Items in lost and found
- 19,000
- Most frequently lost item
- Coats [up to 2,000 a year]
- Return Rate
- Over 60%, close to 98% for computers and iPods
See also
- Pennsylvania Station
- Transportation in New York City
- Buildings and architecture of New York City
- Penn Central Transportation Co. v. New York City
Template:Start MNRR box Template:MNRR 3 |}
External links
- History of Grand Central Terminal - About.com
- Secrets of Grand Central Terminal
- Grand Central Terminal
- Inside Grand Central
- New York Architecture Images- Grand Central Terminal
- Movies Set in Grand Central
- gallery of photographs
- Time lapse photograph of the grand central
- Illustrated discussion of Grand Central Terminal's spatial psychology
- Railstastions.org : The Railroad Architecture of Alfred T. Fellheimer
- NATIONAL PRESERVATION AWARD GOES TO GRAND CENTRAL STATION, Press Release, October 7, 1999
- Time Lapse Video of Grand Central Station
References
- Local News in Brief, New York Times September 29, 1871 page 8
- The Grand Central Railroad Depot, Harlem Railroad, New York Times October 1, 1871 page 6
- Local News in Brief, New York Times November 1, 1871 page 8
- Federal Writer's Project, New York City Guide, Random House Publishers, New York 1939
- Fried, Frederick & Edmund V. Gillon, Jr., New York Civic Sculpture. Dover Publications, New York, 1973
- Reed, Henry Hope, Edmund V. Gillon, JR., Beaux-Arts Architecture in New York: A Photographic Guide, Dover Publications, New York 1988
- Stern, Gilmartin & Massengale, New York 1900, Rizzoli International Publications, New York 1983
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