Completed in 1910, the original Penn Station was intended to symbolize not only its powerful corporate owner but also New York's status as the most vital city in a nation that was becoming a political and economic superpower.
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The original Pennsylvania Station was an ornate station building designed by McKim, Mead, and White and considered a masterpiece of the Beaux-Arts style. Completed in 1910, it enabled direct rail access to New York City from the south for the first time.
The original Penn Station occupied two city blocks and featured, according to the New York Preservation Project, “an ornate exterior, arcade, waiting room, concourse and carriage-ways.” The writer Thomas Wolfe also noted that it had “Nine acres of travertine and granite, 84 Doric columns, a vaulted concourse of ...
Nevertheless, as an icon of New York City, the loss of Pennsylvania Station played an important role in shaping New York's preservation history. Pennsylvania Station was never officially designated a New York City Landmark. Demolition began in 1963, and was complete by 1966.
Welcoming passengers taking more than 650,000 daily commuter, transit and intercity trips on Amtrak, NJ TRANSIT, Long Island Rail Road and the subway, the Moynihan Train Hall / New York Penn Station complex is the busiest rail hub in North America and a gateway to the nation's largest city.
Following the demolition of the original Penn Station, many of its architectural elements were lost or buried in the New Jersey Meadowlands. Some elements were salvaged and relocated.
Penn Station's origins can be traced back to Jeff Osterfeld's first venture in 1983 as owner/operator of Jeffrey's Delicatessen in the Dayton Mall in Dayton, Ohio. It was here that the roots of the ownership mentality began to form for the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Penn Station, Inc.
By the time the structure was set to be demolished, it was dilapidated due to poor maintenance and alterations, and the architectural richness of the building likely went unnoticed by the vast number of commuters who walked through it daily.