THE NEW GRAND CENTRAL STATION 
IN NEW YORK 
Designed by Warren & Wetmore and Reed & Stem, 
Associate Architects 
TT is impossible to form a just estimate of 
the extent of the revolution in transporta¬ 
tion methods now in progress in Greater New 
York without a careful study of the city’s map. 
Summed up briefly these improvements are: 
The new Subway now in operation through¬ 
out the greater part of its lines; the lower 
Manhattan-Brooklyn subway, with a con¬ 
necting tunnel at the Battery under the East 
River, which is well under way; the McAdoo 
twin tunnels system under the North River, 
from Jersey City to Manhattan, which is half 
completed; a crosstown subway under Ninth 
Street, and a subway under Sixth Avenue, 
from Ninth Street to Thirty-second Street, 
both prolongations of the McAdoo tunnels; 
the Pennsylvania Railroad tunnels under the 
North River and the great terminal station 
on the west side of Manhattan, with which 
rapid headway is being made; and the New 
York Central terminal at Forty-second Street. 
In all of these undertakings electricity is to be 
the motive power. To those enumerated 
might fairly be added the projected terminal 
of the Erie Railroad in Hoboken, on which 
$8,000,000 is to be expended. 
1 he plans of the New York Central termi¬ 
nal are now in the hands of the city authori¬ 
ties, by whom they must be approved because 
they involve the closing of certain streets. 
The station is designed by Messrs. Warren & 
Wetmore and Messrs. Reed & Stem, asso¬ 
ciate architects. The existing station build¬ 
ing, which is less than eight years old, will be 
done away with almost entirely. It occupies 
an area of about five blocks. In its stead 
there will be a terminal covering nineteen city 
blocks between Forty-second and Fifty-sev¬ 
enth Streets and Madison and Fexington 
Avenues. 
1 he station proper, together with post office 
and express buildings, will cover the blocks 
between Vanderbilt and Fexington Avenues 
from Forty-third to Forty-fifth Streets, inclu¬ 
sive, and the block fronting on Forty-second 
Street between Vanderbilt Avenue and Depew 
Place. Its longitudinal axis will be on the 
centre line of Park Avenue. I he buildings 
will be set back about forty feet from the 
building line of Forty-second Street and about 
seventy feet from that of Vanderbilt Avenue, 
so as to give the effect of 140 feet open space 
on the south frontage and 130 feet open space 
on the west frontage. In addition to the pub¬ 
lic streets, there will be connections by ample 
private roadways and walks to Madison Ave¬ 
nue on the west and Fexington Avenue on the 
east. 
The tracks are so disposed that the subur¬ 
ban trains will be on a lower level than the 
express trains. The suburban concourse will 
provide for nine tracks. The express con¬ 
course will be slightly depressed below the 
street level and will provide for forty-three 
tracks in all, with platforms so connected by 
subways and elevators that there will be no 
need to cross the tracks in transferring bag¬ 
gage, mails and express matter. 
The architecture of the station is of a sim¬ 
ple Renaissance type and is a distinct depar¬ 
ture from the usual styles employed in Ameri¬ 
can station buildings. 1 he exterior may be 
divided into three elements, which are also 
essential components of the plan, the ticket 
lobby, the concourse, and the office building. 
The ticket lobby is a large room, 300 x 90 
feet, which serves as the entrance to all parts 
of the buildings. The entrance to this room 
is through three arches, each about 33 feet in 
diameter and 60 feet high. 1 hese entrances 
are separated by pairs of Doric columns, 
placed free standing. As departing passen¬ 
gers must enter here, added emphasis has been 
given to this exterior by placing here the only 
decorative features of the building. Over the 
central archway there will be a large clock 
surmounted by a colossal group of figures 
symbolizing Progress. The clock face will 
be fourteen feet in diameter, and from its com¬ 
manding position will be readily seen from all 
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