Penn Station, New York City Term Paper

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it, too, has the rails coming in beneath the fine, old Beaux Arts building, for which tunnels beneath the city were built, removing millions of cubic yards of earth. it, too, heralded and celebrated the new, electric railroad track with its electrified third rail fueling the engines without smoke or fire.

Grand Central Terminal was renovated in the 1990s to make way for modern shops, with better lighting, wider steps and platforms big enough to accommodate the burgeoning subway and commuter train system. Though it became dark and dirty throughout the 1970s and 1980s, falling into disrepair and misuse, in the 1990s it was renovated in a 4-year effort and now appears clean and new. For some reason, the loss of passenger traffic on the railroad during the 1960s did not affect Grand Central as much as it did Penn Station. Perhaps it was because Grand Central had a champion in Jacqueline Kennedy, who declared it a landmark in the 1960s.

Re-imagining Penn Station

When one wants to design a building to replace a useless structure which has replaced a grand old monument, what does one imagine? The original building can be the inspiration for a new, more useful structure to fill the space where the older buildings failed.

When the architects for the new Moynihan/Penn Station project were hired, they were inspired by the public, Moynihan and by their respect for the historical building which had once stood on that property, to recreate it. The only problem is that a train station today has a lot of traffic, and as gas prices soar, more and more people are using public transportation for long as well as short trips, traffic in and out of a train station is going to increase.

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Unless the planners are extremely farsighted, they may neglect to account for an increase in public transportation which will demand (again) a large train terminal with ready access to tickets and the tracks beneath the ground. If the old post office is used for a terminal, it may not be sufficiently large enough to accommodate the crowds. Wouldn't it be wonderful if Penn Station could be recreated exactly as it was, perhaps with the addition of shops and concourses inspired by some of the better contemporary malls, to serve the original purpose of Pennsylvania Station? The new site can and will contain the two skyscrapers housing offices, and, with the addition of residential property nearby, the neighborhood will thrive.

Pennsylvania Station

The Pennsylvania Station in New York

Is like some vast basilica of old

That towers above the terror of the dark

As bulwark and protection to the soul.

Now people who are hurrying alone

And those who come in crowds from far away Pass through this great concourse of steel and stone

To trains, or else from trains out into day.

And as in great basilicas of old

The search was ever for a dream of God,

So here the search is still within each soul

Some seed to find to root in earthly so,

Some seed to find that sprouts a holy tree

To glorify the earth - and you - and me.

Langston Hughes......

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