Grand Central Terminal: Railroads, Engineering, and Architecture in New York City Book
$34.00
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SKU
1-1749
by Kurt C. Schlichting
Grand Central Terminal stands as a magnificent Beaux-Arts monument to America's Railway Age, and it remains a vital part of city life today. Completed in 1913 after ten years of construction, the Terminal became the city's most important transportation hub, linking long-distance and commuter trains to New York's network of subways, elevated trains, and streetcars. Kurt C. Schlichting traces the history of this spectacular building, detailing the colorful personalities, bitter conflicts, and Herculean feats of engineering that lie behind its construction.
Hardcover; 243 pages; 7 x 0.9 x 10 inches
| What's the Story | Grand Central Terminal opened to the public at 12:01 am on February 2, 1913 following a decade of construction. The imposing building, designed by the architectural firm Reed & Stem in collaboration with Warren & Wetmore, resembled a classical monument with oversized columns, large arched windows and detailed ornamentation. Grand Central was the realization of Cornelius Vanderbilt's dream for a grand depot uniting New York's long distance trains with local transit. Built in the Beaux Arts style, it houses one of the nation's most extraordinary interiors with Tennessee marble floors and Botticino marble details crowned by a vaulted ceiling that arches over the 80,000 square foot Main Concourse. The famous astrological mural, originally painted by the Hewlett-Basing Studio, dramatically depicts the October-to-March constellations of the zodiac on a cerulean blue sky. The 2,500 gold-leaf stars, 59 of which have been enhanced in brilliance with fiber optic illumination, glitter in golden splendor upon more than 750,000 visitors each day. |
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