Grand Central Rush Hour

[BaltACD]

daveklepper

Great railroad photographers, James Winston Link, Charles Clegg (Beebe's buddy), and newly discovered Father Frank Browne, JG, and you can name a host of others that we also praise, even Jim Wrinn himself, at least at times, produce accurate  photos that live.  A painting can be both and so can a photograph.

At this point I'm unsure of just how the  New Yorker came to his internal cncourse "geography."  Cuerrently, because of surrounding tall buildings, only the south windows transmit sunlight.  And the balconies and centered grand stairways are east and west, the west always present, the east removed for while (Kodak sign era) and restored.  But painting is great, I'll grant that, but just not accurate.

Just the act of painting conveys artistic license - as what is displayed is funneled through the eyes, mind and hands of the artist.

[daveklepper]

I should point out that in earlier times, sunlight did also come in through the west window, and earlier than that the east as well.  North was shadowed by the New York Centrql building many yeara before the Pan Am.

[Miningman]

Excerpt from “Grand Central Terminal” by A. C. Kalmbach

 

To millions of Americans who have never seen New York City, Grand Central Terminal is the embodiment of all the glitter and bustle that is Manhattan. To New Yorkers it is a utility; yet it is their very own railroad station, the one terminal on Manhattan which has grown up with the island. It is to New York the symbol of the far-flung New York Central System.

 

Seen from 42nd Street, the terminal is likely to be a disappointment to the bumpkin who gazes upon it for the first time. True, it looks just like the pictures. But it is dwarfed by skyscraper hotels and office buildings, and its magnificent show does not become really apparent until one gets inside. Then comes the first breathless view of the beautiful concourse and a gasp of amazement at the crowds coming and going, not via 42nd Street after all, but through numerous subterranean passages connecting with subways, hotels, and office buildings. 

 

Most of these people give hardly a glance at the massive square columns, the perfectly proportioned vaulted ceiling, or the sunlight streaming down from the high south windows. They are on their way, in a railroad station, and all the architecture, all the impressiveness, are but an incident to the engineering marvel that is the real Grand Central, an engineering marvel mostly beneath ground and out of sight of all but the most inquiring passengers.

https://archive.org/details/grandcentralterm00kalm/mode/2up

By this illustration the high windows are at a gap between the concourse and the floors above the waiting room.

https://ia800700.us.archive.org/BookReader/BookReaderImages.php?zip=/3/items/grandcentralterm00fitc/grandcentralterm00fitc_jp2.zip&file=grandcentralterm00fitc_jp2/grandcentralterm00fitc_0030.jp2&scale=2&rotate=0  

 

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/d7/ce/7f/d7ce7f8aad3cfaa501ac1a5276ae5da3.jpg

[Miningman]

Pennsylvania Station had stunning natural light features. 

[Flintlock76]

Old Pennsylvania Station was breathtaking, no doubt about it.

Anyone who walked in there just knew he or she was in the throne room of the PRR's mighty empire.

And now, I'm reminded of the words of Shelley:

"My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings!  Look on my works ye mighty, and despair!

Nothing else remains.  Round the decay of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare, the lone and level sands stretch far away.  

Sic transit gloria mundi.  

[Miningman]

A fine design for and in natural light quality.

 

I sincerely regret not ever having seen the insides. I did so with Grand Central twice but not Pennsylvania Station. 

 

Well its still out there somewhere in Space-Time so maybe I can go yet. 

http://dcmny.org/adore-djatoka/resolver?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&svc_id=info%3Alanl-repo/svc/getRegion&svc_val_fmt=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajpeg2000&svc.format=image/jpeg&rft_id=http%3A//dcmny.org/islandora/object/photosnycbeyond%253A24925/datastream/JP2/view%3Ftoken%3Dfb45db29e314810f6dbfc3f324d9b978f44f0b20de958d0d3baf13cd0d2543e4&svc.region=0%2C0%2C2404%2C3024

http://dcmny.org/adore-djatoka/resolver?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&svc_id=info%3Alanl-repo/svc/getRegion&svc_val_fmt=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajpeg2000&svc.format=image/jpeg&rft_id=http%3A//dcmny.org/islandora/object/photosnycbeyond%253A28148/datastream/JP2/view%3Ftoken%3Ddb76da971c713cd78f785777fd1e8b7239108f109e1ddc41802e98f1b2be06ea&svc.region=0%2C0%2C2389%2C3023

http://dcmny.org/adore-djatoka/resolver?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&svc_id=info%3Alanl-repo/svc/getRegion&svc_val_fmt=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajpeg2000&svc.format=image/jpeg&rft_id=http%3A//dcmny.org/islandora/object/photosnycbeyond%253A26106/datastream/JP2/view%3Ftoken%3D8627eb33a94b803d3297a2d37a3e4bda41c3e13f0c39dc2764b9faa842b3b882&svc.region=0%2C0%2C2374%2C3016       

http://dcmny.org/adore-djatoka/resolver?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&svc_id=info%3Alanl-repo/svc/getRegion&svc_val_fmt=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajpeg2000&svc.format=image/jpeg&rft_id=http%3A//dcmny.org/islandora/object/photosnycbeyond%253A26463/datastream/JP2/view%3Ftoken%3D68bf2e1a867702bafba66cfc5d75ab2fba833c5b639ad5427c19cd68025e2a99&svc.region=0%2C0%2C2395%2C3038

http://dcmny.org/adore-djatoka/resolver?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&svc_id=info%3Alanl-repo/svc/getRegion&svc_val_fmt=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajpeg2000&svc.format=image/jpeg&rft_id=http%3A//dcmny.org/islandora/object/photosnycbeyond%253A26201/datastream/JP2/view%3Ftoken%3Ded721bcaab18e2f52d096aa15cdf35d568220f7b5e8f617c6c839c7f275c88a8&svc.region=0%2C0%2C3010%2C2371            

[Deggesty]

I also regret that I was unable to see Penn Station in its glory. I was in Grand Central a few times.

[Flintlock76]

My God, my God, did you look at those photographs?  (Dumb question, of course you did!)

Think about what went into building Penn Station, the engineering, the architecture, the stone and iron work, the interior planning and execution, the energy and the sweat, it just boggles the mind.

Now nothing but a pile of rubble in the Hackensack Meadows.  What a waste.  What a rotten, rotten waste!  

[Miningman]

[Overmod]

Then look at how quick they did it.

And what a small percentage of the overall through connection it represented...