the Destruction of Penn Station

[Jeannette Latoria]

This is what we lost at Penn Station

[Jeannette Latoria]

Flanking the Seventh Avenue entrance to Penn Station, two carriageways, modeled after the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, brought passengers to the Main Waiting Room. A passenger taking a Pennsylvania train would ask to be taken the the "Penn side," while passengers who wanted the Long Island Railroad would request the "Long Island side."

[Jeannette Latoria]

Pennsylvania Railroad President Alexander Cassatt wanted to give travelers arriving in New York City a preparation before they walked outside. The arcade was a metal-faced boulevard of shops, modeled after the arcades in Milan and Naples. It led to the station's main entrance, a Doric columned vestibule.

[Jeannette Latoria]

Modeled after the Roman Baths of Caracalla and comparable in size to the nave of St.-Peters in the Vatican, this elegant room was made of travertine marble, a honey-colored stone imported from Tivoli, Italy, that grew lustrous with the human touch. Standing on its pink marble floors, one looked up 150 feet to a coffered, vaulted ceiling.