Penn Station: How Great Thou Art

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How Great Thou Art

Or maybe this should read Penn Station: How Great Thou Were…?

The modern Penn Station certainly gets you in the game, as it lands you plunk in the heart of Lower Manhatten, but I’d say that despite its efficiency it’s no screaming hell as a building. And it turns out that the present day modern ‘slab’ that also accomodates Madison Square Garden is the site of an urban travesty. The original Pensylvania Station was demolished amidst heart-rending controversy back in the 1960′s.

Forget Grand Central: Penn Station has always dwarfed the previously-described train station to a ratio of 4:1 for commuter traffic, and perhaps even on the scale of architectural grandeur. The original Penn Station was phenomenal, an architectural wonder, as attested to by the thumbnail photos below.

The good news? The wanton, short-sighted destruction of this majestic structure galvanized the New York community and paved the way – so to speak! – to a more contemporary, preservationist attitude towards buildings of historic significance…nation-wide as well as internationally.
Torontonians will recognize the name of Jane Jacobs, whose singular Urban Vision was writ large on those ground-breaking discussions. And it is Jacob’s clear, articulate voice that rang true here in the heart of our city, once she had gotten warmed up in NYC! Otherwise we would be contending with a Spadina Road Expressway: unthinkable!

…btw, no, this is not me playing How Great Thou Art, though I wish it was: this guy is good!!