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| A view circa 1920 in streetcar days. |
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| The view of the front was a little obscured by the elevated Park Avenue. For a long time the MetLife building behind was the Pan Am building. |
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| The hall inside the Vanderbilt Avenue entrance (west side) |
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| The main concourse |
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| The zodiac art of the main concourse ceiling. |
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| entering the main concourse from the west side |
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| a ramp leading to the lower level (people walking while reading their iPhones is a sign of the times) |
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| a lower level platform entrance |
Often referred to incorrectly as Grand Central Station, this is of one of the prime destinations for tourists in NYC, not necessarily to use the commuter trains (Amtrak trains use the Penn Station), but to admire it, as well as explore its shopping and food outlets on the lower levels.
The first railway line into New York City began service in 1832. Others soon followed, and by the late 1840s the city held a haphazard, aboveground rail network plagued by complaints about noise, traffic problems, frequent accidents, and pollution from the steam locomotives.
In 1869, shipping magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt purchased property between 42nd and 48th Streets and Lexington and Madison Avenues for construction of a new train depot and rail yard. His $6.4 million Grand Central Depot opened in October 1871. This busy station was expanded in 1898 and further renovated in 1900, reopening as Grand Central Station. The reconfigured depot featured a spectacular glass-and-steel train shed rivaling the Eiffel Tower and Crystal Palace as the nineteenth centurys most dramatic engineering achievement. But the age of steam locomotives was ending. A catastrophic train collision in the smoke-filled Park Avenue Tunnel on 8 January 1902, caused a public outcry and increased demand for underground electric trains. Soon plans were afoot to demolish Grand Central Station and create a new electric-train terminal in its place.
This new Grand Central Terminal would be expensive. The railroad needed not only to electrify its rails but also to carve deep into Manhattans bedrock. The solution to meeting the projected $80 million budget (roughly $2 billion today) was to pave over the area from 45th to 49th Streets and real estate developers were sold air rights to erect buildings over the concealed tracks. Construction of the new terminal took ten years.
Grand Central Terminal opened to great fanfare on 2 February 1913 and development around the terminal took off. Hotels, apartment buildings, and skyscrapers sprang up along Park Avenue and 42nd Street. As the neighborhood prospered, so did Grand Central. In 1947, over 65 million people traveled the rails via Grand Central Terminal. By the early 1950s, however, America had become a nation of suburbs and automobiles, and revenues from long-distance rail travel were plummeting. At the same time, the value of Midtown Manhattan real estate had risen dramatically. Preservationists became alarmed over talk of demolishing Grand Central Terminal and replacing it with an office tower.
On 2 August 1967, New York City's recently established Landmarks Preservation Commission designated Grand Central Terminal as a legally protected landmark. But the following year, the validity of the City's landmarks law was challenged in court. Litigation lasted nearly a decade. In 1978, the US Supreme Court upheld New York's law, leaving the terminal safe from the wrecking ball. But the story was not over: after decades of 'deferred maintenance', i.e. neglect, the building was crumbling.
Major repairs and improvements were made between 1983 and 1990, and in 1994 the Metropolitan Transportation Authority gained long-term control of the building. It embarked on a comprehensive revitalisation plan, completed in 1998. Today Grand Central Terminal has been completely restored to its 1913 splendour.
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