Grand Central Terminal
What kinds of buildings and structures have the power to transform neighborhoods? What happens when important buildings become obsolete? What can Grand Central Terminal tell us about the solidification of New York City a American mass transit hub?
In the 1800s, the City was booming was innovation. It was a new century and a new energy filled the streets. Increased participation in banking and trade fueled more prosperity and economic success. At the heart of this cycle of trade and profit was the Railroad, which made it all easier. But New York City hadn't figured out it's railroad situation yet.
By the 1830s, the first lines from SoHo to Harlem were built, for both freight and passengers. This was the first time uptown and downtown were connected efficiently, which meant more money, more trade, more expansion. But stream engine trains disrupted pedestrian traffic and cut through neighborhoods, they were loud, and they spit it out a lot of soot.
Over the next 2 decades, New Yorkers complained and the City responded. By the 1850s, steam engine trains were banned below 42nd Street. The heart of the city was downtown, but trains had to stop uptown and transfer their passengers to horses and carriage for the final miles of their trips. The 3 major lines at this point--to New Haven, Hudson, and Harlem--concurred that they should share a hub on 42nd (the southernmost point they could take the trains, so, a highly south-after location).
The first Grand Central Terminal opened in 1871. There were 3 separate sections, 1 for each train company, each with their own waiting room and massive tower. For 30 years, the iconic structure was the heart of railroad transit it New York. But on January 8, 1902, a steam locomotive coming Fromm Westchester collided with a Connecticut-bound train in the station's Park Avenue entrance tunnel leaving 15 people dead and 38 injured. Steam engines were too problematic, a giant railroad yard in the middle of Manhattan wouldn't work anymore, and something had to change if GCT would survive. William Wilgus, the chief engineer of New York Central Railroad, had a big idea for a new Terminal.
Cornelius Vanderbilt, already a tycoon and investor in New York railroads, appointed Wilgus to spearhead the project. Vanderbilt merged the 3 individual companies into one; there was no longer a need for the building's separate, disjointed sections. The idea was a massive, open structure, much larger and much more efficient.
The demolition required to build new GCT changed the appearance and utility of midtown Manhattan forever. An orphanage, 2 hospitals, and more than 120 homes were cleared out making it the largest-yet demolition project in the City as of 1910. The project took 10 years and 10,000 workers, requiring 33 miles of train tracks, and excavation 45 feet below ground. Meanwhile, Penn Station was across town threatening the Central Railroad Company highly effective, aesthetically pleasing, and built to last a long time.
Local architectural firms competed for the contract. 2 of the top contenders--Warren & Wetmore, and Reed & Stem--were brought in to merge the best of each other of their ideas (there was drama and they eventually sued each. other, but the work got done!). The structure was built and then adorned with art: acorns on the chandeliers and wall carvings to represent the Vanderbilt family, status of Minerva, Hercules, and Mercury, and Guastavino tiles on the ceiling of the Station's famous Oyster Bar.