Going through the marbled vastness of this architectural testament to early 20th century American progress, it’s hard to believe that it had once been condemned to give way to a modernistic, if now unlamented 108-story skyscraper.
Had it not been for the timely intervention of high-profile crusaders like Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and the architect Philip Johnson, Grand Central would have quietly passed into history. Instead, the issue provoked lively commentary in the media, triggered well-covered demonstrations and became subject of a celebrated legal battle that went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
In 1978, the High Court awarded Grand Central the status of a national landmark, saving it from destruction. But it would take some 20 years and $200 million to restore the place to its old grandeur and turn it into New York’s latest and most fashionable commercial space and public meeting hall.
Often compared to Washington’s bustling Union Station, the successful restoration of which was completed in the 1970s, Grand Central has finally shed off its unwanted identity as Manhattan’s down-market terminus for north-bound commuters and the dingy haunt of vagrants and street people.
As for the aborted 1954 skyscraper project, it (not Chicago’s Sears Towers) would have upstaged the Empire State Building, just eight blocks away, as the world’s tallest edifice. Its Chinese-American architect, I.M. Pei, then relatively unknown, was years away from world fame for his more inspired renovation (not demolition) of the Louvre in Paris, complete with that glittering glass pyramid.
The architect’s early loss was New York’s long-term gain. Standing on one of the city’s biggest and most valuable piece of real estate, Grand Central was fair target for speculation by the conglomerate which had it built during the golden age of rail. Then came hard times, even bankruptcy, with the advent of the motor car and the jet plane.
Directly spurring the movement to save Grand Central was the spirited battle for Pennsylvania Station, the rival Beaux Arts railroad palace across town, which was won by its owners. This raised such a public outcry that Mayor Robert Wagner was forced to create the New York Landmarks Preservation Commission, a private sector-dominated body.
Many aristocrats, celebrities, artists and community leaders who felt outraged by the city’s indifference to its architectural and artistic legacy joined the group. They were influenced by European efforts to retain historical buildings and monuments as expressions of national pride. Coincidence or not, their crusade came at a time when the so-called "American Century" was deemed to be in full flower.
The United States had come out of World War II as the most powerful nation on earth, challenged only by the nuclear might and ideological posturings of the Soviet Union. As America’s greatest city and like the official capital Washington, New York was expected to evoke some kind of imperial splendor.
Inaugurated in 1913, Grand Central was actually the third monumental terminal built on the same spot by the Vanderbilt railroad empire. Towering above the front facade facing the crossroads of Park Avenue and 42nd Street was an immense sculptural group of Mercury supported by Hercules and Minerva, and crowned with the spreading wings of a giant eagle. It’s still there, thanks to Jackie O.
The main hall stretches more than 100 meters long, 40 meters wide and 50 meters high – all in off-white Tennessee and Italian marble. The immense vaulted ceiling in cerulean blue features a constellation of 2,500 stars, some 60 of which are illuminated. In the 1950s, a speech by President Harry Truman drew more than 30,000 people into what has since become known as New York’s de facto "town square."
One thing left out of the magnificently refurbished Grand Central, I’ve noted on this visit, was the Kodak billboard that once dominated the entire eastern side of the main hall. Every month, there would be a giant photo, much-larger than life, of something distinctly American as the New England countrysides in the fall or Grand Canyon in winter.
But that’s a small price to pay. Instead of yawning acres of dark and dangerous waiting rooms and passages, Grand Central today teems with chic boutiques, smart cafes and cosmopolitan ambiance worthy of Paris and London. It isn’t just a place to catch a train anymore.