Grand Central Terminal (New York City, New York)

 NRHP - National Register of Historic Places, interesting place, train station, historic landmark, railway terminal, 1913_construction, Beaux-Arts (architecture)

Beaux-Arts train station completed in 1913. Designed by Reed & Stem with Warren & Wetmore, it is one of New York City's two central railroad hubs, along with Pennsylvania Station on 34th Street. Originally a hub for long-distance rail travel, it now primarily serves the Metro North commuter rail system. Famous for its grand concourse featuring a green muraled ceiling, Grand Central Terminal is the largest train station in the world by number of platforms: 44, with 67 tracks along them.

The current Grand Central Terminal station was built on the ancient Grand Central Station opened in 1871 and whose name is still commonly used to refer to the train station. The south facade of this terminal is truly impressive. The limestone lower level, supporting the Park Avenue Viaduct that runs around the station, is lined with storefronts, and topped with sections of stone balustrades. At the corners are set stone spheres, with colored eagles perched upon them. The curving southwest entrance is clad in green cast-iron, with a projecting canopy. The main upper level's south facade, set back behind the Park Avenue Viaduct, has three grand round-arches with large scrolled keystones; each arch has infill of glass broken into small vertical panes by thin iron framing. A statue of Cornelius Vanderbilt is placed in front of the center arch. The arches are flanked by fluted columns, which also flank the two bays between the three arches. These bays have square-headed windows with similar infill at the lower level, topped by oculus windows surrounded by carved garlands. The arches support a broad entablature with a dentiled cornice. Above the cornice is a taller entablature, adorned at the ends by rounded pediments with wreaths and other carved ornament. In the center is a panel reading "GRAND CENTRAL TERMINAL", flanked by elaborate foliate carvings and topped by a grand central pediment, featuring statues of Mercury, god of commerce, Minerva, virgin goddess of wisdom, medicine and the arts, and Hercules, the legendary Roman demigod. The facade was designed by architect Whitney Warren in 1913, however, the group of statues was sculpted by Jules-Alexis Coutain. In the center of the statues stands a clock with crystals by Tiffany, with a circumference of 13 feet.

The west and east facades have three similar large arches in the center, separated by fluted columns. The north and south ends have narrower bays, with small, recessed doorways in porticos under triangular pediments at the viaduct roadway-level, large square-headed windows above, and at the top are rectangular openings with central, oval oculus windows. Swags run across the top of the openings, and hang down the sides. The south end has an additional bay, set back from the rest of the west and east facades, matching the other end bays, except for being flanked by a pair of fluted columns, and with the lower window extending further down in place of the entry portico. The entablatures and cornices from the south facade continue on the side elevations, with elaborate rounded pediments over the end bays (excluding the recessed, southernmost bay on each side). A set of test pillars made of different stones were placed along the former Putnam Rail tracks upon the order of Cornelius Vanderbilt and can be still be viewed today in Van Cortland Park in the Bronx.

Inside, the main concourse is 275-feet long by 120-feet wide and 125-feet high. The ticket booths are here, although many now stand unused or have been repurposed since the introduction of ticket vending machines. The main information booth is in the center of the concourse. The four-faced brass clock on top of the information booth, perhaps the most recognizable icon of Grand Central, was designed by Henry Edward Bedford and cast in Waterbury, Connecticut. Each of the four clock faces is made from opalescent glass (now often called opal glass or milk glass). The upper-level tracks are reached from the Main Concourse or from various hallways and passages branching off from it. On the east side of the Main Concourse is a cluster of food purveyor shops called Grand Central Market. The benches from the original waiting room were relocated to the Station Master's Office in the 1990's.

The Main Concourse has an elaborately decorated astronomical ceiling, executed by James Monroe Hewlett and Charles Basing of Hewlett-Basing Studio. The original ceiling was replaced in the late 1930s to correct falling plaster. By the 1980s, the ceiling was obscured by decades of what was thought to be coal and diesel smoke. Spectroscopic examination revealed that it was mostly tar and nicotine from tobacco smoke. A 12-year restoration effort by Beyer Blinder Belle, completed in autumn 1996, restored the ceiling to its original design.

The Dining Concourse, below the Main Concourse and connected to it by numerous stairs, ramps, and escalators, provides access to the lower-level tracks. It has central seating and lounge areas, surrounded by restaurants. Among them is the Oyster Bar, the oldest business within Grand Central, whose decor includes vaults of Guastavino tile.

Along 42nd Street, the ground floor of the south facade is occupied by The Campbell Bar, Neuhaus Chocolate, Banana Republic apparel, and Grand Central Oyster Bar.

www.grandcentralterminal.com
www.gcthistory.com/
hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015036009465?urlappend=%3Bseq...
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