![]() ![]() The PRR considered building a rail bridge across the Hudson, but the state of New York insisted that a cross-Hudson bridge had to be a joint project with other New Jersey railroads, which were not interested. In any event, none of the proposals advanced during this time were considered feasible. Many proposals for a cross-Hudson connection were advanced in the late 19th century, but financial panics in the 1870s and 1890s scared off potential investors. ![]() The rival New York Central Railroad's (NYC) line transported passengers from the Hudson Valley in the city's north, ran along Park Avenue in Manhattan, and terminated at Grand Central Depot (later Grand Central Terminal) at 42nd Street and Park Avenue. Manhattan-bound passengers boarded ferries to cross the Hudson River for the final stretch of their journey. Until the early 20th century, the Pennsylvania Railroad's (PRR) rail network terminated on the western side of the Hudson River, once known locally as the North River, at Exchange Place in Jersey City, New Jersey. Atlas of the City of New York Borough of Manhattan. Pennsylvania Station, Plate 20 from: Bromley, George W. The sole remaining portions of the original station are the underground platforms and tracks, as well as scattered artifacts on the mezzanine level above it. Over the next six years, the below-ground concourses and waiting areas were heavily renovated, becoming the modern Penn Station, while Madison Square Garden and Pennsylvania Plaza were built above them. Starting in 1963, the above-ground head house and train shed were demolished, a loss that galvanized the modern historic preservation movement in the United States. Passenger traffic began to decline after World War II, and in the 1950s, the Pennsylvania Railroad sold the air rights to the property and shrank the railroad station. The original building was one of the first stations to include separate waiting rooms for arriving and departing passengers, and when built, these were among the city's largest public spaces. The station contained 11 platforms serving 21 tracks, in approximately the same layout as the current Penn Station. Its head house and train shed were considered a masterpiece of the Beaux-Arts style and one of the great architectural works of New York City. The building was designed by McKim, Mead, and White and completed in 1910, enabling direct rail access to New York City from the south for the first time. As the terminal shared its name with several stations in other cities, it was sometimes called New York Pennsylvania Station, or Penn Station for short. The station occupied an 8-acre (3.2 ha) plot bounded by Seventh and Eighth Avenues and 31st and 33rd Streets in Midtown Manhattan. Let’s put back in its glory.Pennsylvania Station was a historic railroad station in New York City, named for the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR), its builder and original tenant. Amtrak is investing well over $100 million in Penn Station. The major part of our goal here is connectivity. Struever sums it up: “Penn Station is crossroads of Baltimore - east-west and Black and white. If all are ever developed and constructed, the 1911 station would sit in the middle of its own neighborhood. ![]() “The station needs marketing, too, so it emerges clean with remarkable curb appeal.”Īmtrak’s ambitious master plan for Penn Station involves at least six parcels of land from Greenmount Avenue to the North Avenue Bridge. “We are stubborn and determined and we’ll make it work,” Seiler said. “This is a once-in-a lifetime opportunity to work in a major, active train station.”Ĭhris Seiler, Beatty’s marketing and communications director, said the project is going to be a “focused, refined renovation.” “Building around an active railroad station is really complicated,” said Charlie Bond, development director for Beatty, which is working still on its other downtown Baltimore project, Harbor Point. “Imagine if the board could be all lit up,” said Struever, who said it also could be left where it is and worked into the renovation scheme for the 1911 station. ![]()
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