Megan Lonergan

CORE Gotham City-Saturday

September 19, 14
Grand Central Terminal
New York City would be nothing without its mass subway and train transportation that
has been providing their services to the public ever since the late 1800s. Among these forms of
train transportation, the largest is the Grand Central Terminal also known as Grand Central
Station. Located in Midtown Manhattan. Grand Central Terminal is the largest railroad station in
the world, with an upper and lower level serving 44 platforms and 67 tracks. Real estate is at a
prime in New York City however, since Grand Central is built beneath the land of Manhattan, it
is able to take up 48 acres of land. Grand Central has some of the most beautiful architecture,
especially when compared to Pennsylvania Station.
The first Grand Central Station began construction in 1869 when Cornelius Vanderbilt
was consolidating various railroads and realized that there needed to be a larger station to house
all these trains and lines. In 1869 John B. Snook was commissioned to build Grand Central
Station on the property that Vanderbilt had owned on 42
nd
street. Despite the creation of this new
train station, it had proven that in fact it was not built properly because it could not handle the
large amount of train traffic. Between the traffic and a few accidents in the tunnels, it was then
decided in 1903 to hold a competition for the design and construction of the new station. A firm
by the name of Reef and Stern won the competition and was to create a larger station with Beaux
Arts architecture. Beaux Arts style of architecture expresses the academic neoclassical
architectural style from Paris. This type of architecture has been said to be a little outlandish and
over done by some people, however, when seen in person they are so beautiful and exquisitely
done you cant argue.
The construction of the new Grand Central took a total of ten years to build and cost the
taxpayers over $80 million dollars. Even though it was such a large cost, the new station proved
itself to be efficient to house all the train traffic that came through it. In the early 1900s train
transportation was the most common type of transportation there was, therefore making Grand
Central Terminal the most popular train station in the country and world.
A unique aspect of the station is the stunning ceiling design. The original ceiling was
done by a man named Warren and his French artist of a friend in the year 1912. However, this
original design was replaced in the late 1930s to correct the falling plaster that was occurring.
The new ceiling was covered by decades of what was thought to be coal and diesel smoke from
the trains but later was discovered as mostly tar and nicotine from tobacco smoke. There is still a
single dark patch that remains from its original creation to remind commuters and visitors of the
original look of the ceiling. The ceiling is mostly famous because it is a depiction of the stars and
constellations yet it is astronomically inaccurate in a way only some people understand. While
the stars within some constellations appear correctly as they would from earth, other
constellations are reversed left-to-right, as is the overall arrangement of the constellations on the
ceiling. One possible explanation is that the overall ceiling design might have been based on the
medieval custom of depicting the sky as it would appear to God looking in at the celestial sphere
from outside. Anyone who gets a chance to go to Grand Central should take a minute and look
at the ceiling just to marvel in its beauty.
In 1903 Henry Ford produced his first full automotive car. Less than 50 years later, car
transportation became increasingly high, leaving the train station traffic to become less and less.
Because of this fact, plans were proposed to replace the ground structure of Grand Central
Terminal with a skyscraper. Skyscrapers were also becoming more and more popular among
architecture because it gave way for more room on the already crowded island of Manhattan.
Since Grand Central Terminal was built to be able to sustain such a building, the plans to build
on top of the terminal called for a building that would have been bigger than the Pan Am
building we know today.
Luckily the magnificent structure of Grand Central Terminal was never knocked down.
Former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis was to thank for this fact. Mrs. Onassis at the time
lent her support to preserve Grand Central Terminal in 1975. She started off her support by first
joining the citizens committee at the Municipal Art Society, however, soon after she became the
public face of the campaign. She felt very strongly about saving this great New York City
landmark when 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. By forming the Committee to Save
Grand Central Station she led the fight of preservation. This committee she formed and
participated in had been known to hold rallies at the terminal fighting to keep it alive. She even
took the extreme measure of gathering a group of Grand Central supporters and traveled by train
to Washington D.C., to bring attention to the Supreme Court hearing. In the end, the Supreme
Court ruled in favor of the Landmarks Law and Grand Central Terminal, which further prevented
any plans of construction people may have had. Without the support of former First Lady Jackie
Kennedy Onassis, this project may never have got off the ground and one of the best landmarks
this city and country have to offer could have possible been destroyed.
Grand Central Terminal is one of New York Citys most historic landmark sites that is
still in use today. When most people think of the city, they think of skyscrapers and Wall Street
and crowds of tourists and workers, however, what most people dont think of is how all these
people get to be in the city. Walking and car transportation is very big in the city, but still to this
day the most popular and efficient way to get around the city is by using the underground trains
and subway systems. The innovativeness that the men and women of the late 19
th
and early 20
th

century had was beyond what anyone could have expected. To think that such a beautiful
structure is still used today is proof that there are certain things in this city that can never be
replicated nor replaced.