While Grand Central Terminal is one of the nations most historical landmarks, it has remained the busiest train station in the country. Today, a constant stream of people from all over the world would come here everyday. It is not only a place you departures from anymore, this place definitely has memory, it is also deeply into New York’s memory. From “Grand Central Depot” to “Grand Central Station”, and finally into “Grand Central Terminal”, obviously this one of the famous place in NY has been changing through this hundreds years. Therefore, according to what I have seem so far and what I have read from others sources, I would like to believe that all those changed which Grand Central Terminal have underwent only make it as a better place.
As I mentioned, Grand Central Terminal is now a very important hub in NY, but it wasn’t like this before, even not in this location. The history of this place should go long away to 1830s when railroads remake New York, and the first railroad line connected Prince Street to the Harlem River, accelerating the city’s expansion northward from lower Manhattan. Followed by this line, other three railroads line completed, . During the 1860s, Cornelius Vanderbilt bought controlling stock in the first three, and forging then into a rail empire. However, while railroads bought people money and profits, it also brought pollution. Grand Central Depot opened in 1871. Grand Central Depot brought 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 three towers represented the three participating railroads. Decades later, the original Grand Central Depot of 1871 had become a 19th century relic struggling to meet the demands of a 20th century city. Therefore, its 30-year-old rail tunnels couldn’t handle the increasing traffic. “The building lacked modern conveniences and signaling technology, as well as the infrastructure for electric rail lines. On top of that, the old station no longer reflected its surroundings. In 1870, 42nd Street was still a relative backwater. “[1]In 1901, it became Grand Central Station. It was expanded from three to six stories with an entirely new facade, on plans by railroad architect Bradford Gilbert. “The tracks that 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.” More and more people were riding more and more trains. 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 Stem and Warren and Wetmore. “Grand Central Terminal was listed on the National Register of Historic Places and declared a National Historic Landmark in 1976.” [2] Located in Mid-town Manhattan, 42nd street and Park Avenue, those geographical advantages also provided Grand Central Terminal a dominant position as the main center of this city.
There are lots of things about this place which makes here so solemn, mysterious, and significant. One thing really famous about Grand Central Terminal is the celling in the Main Concourse. “In autumn 1998, a 12-year restoration of Grand Central revealed the original luster of the Main Concourse’s elaborately decorated astronomical ceiling. The original ceiling was conceived in 1912 by Warren with his friend, French portrait artist Paul César Helleu .” [3] However, what’s more interesting about the ceiling is that the painting of the constellations on ceiling of the massive, cathedral-like Main Concourse is backwards. No one knows for sure how the mix-up occurred, but the Vanderbilt family claimed that it was no accident. And on the lower level of Grand Central is that there is a whispering gallery. I had a lot of fun there, and I had no idea about the scientific tenet there. As far as I’ve searched, no one knows if the “Whispering gallery” was built to whisper on purpose, history didn’t leave a hint on it.
What really make me open-eyed of Grand Central is that there are many things actually have nothing to do with transportations, more like an entertainment center. I stop by to Grand Central subway station very open; and every time, I would be with a flowing amount of people. In stead of just be as a train station, I think it is because this location has now been manipulated into many locales. From 1922 to 1958, Grand Central Terminal was the home of the Grand Central Art Galleries. The Grand Central Art Galleries remained in the terminal until 1958, when they moved to the Biltmore Hotel.[4] 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 Pan Am Building (now the MetLife Building ) was completed in 1963.[5] In 1975, 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. And also, if you go the Grand Central, you would not be so surprised to find out there is a market there in the ground floor, bakery. Then, as you walk in, a big Apple Store is in the main concourse. And plenty of cupcakes and cheesecakes stores are there inside of the main concourse. The lower level has even a food court, various from Japanese cuisine to Pizza, Salad to Chinese cuisine, and you would not miss this most wonderful Shake Shack burger. Near the “Whisper gallery”, the most famous Grand Central Oyster Bar & Restaurant is right here. As it has all been known, it opened along with the terminal itself in 1913 and has been in business ever since, although it closed briefly for renovations following a 1997 fire.As its name suggests, it specializes in seafood, and it has become over the years one of the landmarks of the New York culinary scene.
Of course, this Grand Central Terminal is not that Grand Central Terminal anymore. We have seen the past of this place; it feels like every tile has witnessed its path. Now, in many New Yorker’s life, I think its function has beyond a terminal, and services people from more a lively essential way.
[1] “Grand by Design”, New York Transit Museum, http://www.gcthistory.com/
[2] Carolyn, Pitts, “”Grand Central Station” August 11, 1976,”,National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination. National Park Service. 1976-08-11.
[3] Belle, John; Leighton, Maxinne Rhea (2000). Grand Central: Gateway to a Million Lives. New York: Norton.
[4] “Grand Central Art Galleries records“, Archives of American Art, http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/grand-central-art-galleries-records-8254
[5] “New Home for Art to Cost $100,000”. The New York Times. March 11, 1923,