The enormous engineering feat and one of the greatest architectural achievements of its time, Pennsylvania Station was torn down after just 53 years. Premieres on PBS American Experience February 18, 2014.
And NYC is still paying dearly for this senseless, wanton act of destruction. They tore away a symbol of imposing grandeur which proved a tremendous loss not only to the city, but the nation as well. We pay for the sins of our youth.
If there is any building in the World that's been demolished ( through absolute vandalism) which makes me sick to the stomach it's old Penn Station. I almost cannot bear to see the photos of what has been denied to future generations. The greatest Transport Terminal ever built anywhere in the World and it's loss forever a curse on the City of New York.
+cameronpaul *Can you imagine, it was built with Travertine Marble imported from Italy and Pink Granite. The Black and White Film and Photos don't do it justice.*
Another great piece of NYC history presented beautifully by PBS. With great narration by Michael Murphy. An unfortunate side note regarding the demolition of Pennsylvania Station: the City of New York was so aghast by the public reaction to this wide scale, company sanctioned vandalism, that its local municipality approved the creation of a Historic Landmark Preservation Commission to prevent any other structures from being lost to the wrecking ball. Sadly, it was at the cost of losing the original Penn Station! However, the Preservation Commission did help Grand Central Terminal from receiving the same fate by granting landmark status in the 1970's. The campaign to save it was spearheaded by none other than Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.🇵🇷🇺🇸😪
It is an absolute atrocity that Penn Station was demolished - just unbelievable something like this can be replaced with a disgusting underground station and an ugly sports arena. I would love to have been able to see this magnificent building. This building and the Singer tower should have been preserved as the national treasures they were.
By the time I had reached the end of this wonderful and informative documentary I couldn't help feeling deep sadness that such a work of great historic art should have been destroyed and thrown away, as if it wasn't worth fighting for. I never got the privilege to see the original Penn station, but I'd have given a great deal to do so. I say this because I realise that a building as awesome and as beautiful as this would have been worth the journey for me, and that journey would have been from England where I reside. I have no idea why the great people of America did not protest in their millions to make sure that Penn Station was preserved. I know that most of you with any love for that iconic land mark would have loved to have seen it still standing today, for your grandchildren to see and to be astonished by its grandeur and to be awed by its majesty. For them to realise how a great nation was founded, and that was on its railways and the great men that founded and built them,all to the glory of America. I am deeply shocked that Penn Station is no more, all to make way for those that only saw the land that it stood on as a way to make a swift buck to erect something that was of lesser beauty and inspiration. Where were your politicians, why did they not make sure that this travesty, this vandalism of a great and rare piece of historic architecture, was not set aside, and by law to keep it standing? I have tears in my eyes that Penn Station is no more to be seen and admired by the world. Such a shame, such a loss. Why do we not realise and see the great beauty, yes even in Railway Stations? Thank God that the USA authorities have changed their ways now, and that at least 'Grand Central Terminal' is to be preserved and never to be destroyed, and is now considered a historical national landmark, here here! But too late for Penn Station, it was even more stunning than Grand Central, that is my opinion, Penn was truly magnificent, and I think that even though I never beheld it with my own eyes, wow! I'd have loved to have done that, to have seen it for myself!
Grand Central was saved precisely because Penn Station was lost: it would not be allowed to happen again. The loss of Penn Station spurred a wave of interest in historical preservation that continues today. As to why it was allowed to happen in the first place, I am told it was so absolutely unthinkable that many were caught completely by surprise, and before opposition could be organized the demolition had begun. Nobody makes laws to prevent something they don't think will ever happen. Lastly, it wasn't so much an effort to make a "swift buck" as it was ... the railroad was going bankrupt. Efforts to stave that off would continue for a few years, including a merger with the New York Central that simply made it the biggest bankruptcy in US history when it happened. Just one more tragedy in this massive tragedy is that the railroad did this in an effort to save itself that didn't work. in 1964 Penn Station was gone, and in 1970 the Pennsylvania Railroad was gone too.
I remember Penn Station, and yes, I agree with you, it was more grand and impressive then GCT, which is smaller in scale. Recall its many columns. In Chicago, where I used to live, Union Station evokes the beaux arte dignity and beauty of the old Penn Station. The coffered ceilings, the columns and statuary. Whereas the concourse was torn down, the waiting areas were preserved and have recently been restored to their former glory. The present Penn Station in NYC wins hands down as the ugliest and most repulsive train station in any major city in the world. Its a chronic disgrace.
Moynihan Train Hall just opened with elements of the original Penn Station's architecture incorporated. It's a slight consolation to the greatest crime against architecture in American history.
We don’t build structures like this anymore. Even by the sixties they knew this. The cost to build something so grand is no longer affordable. Only grand court houses or libraries were as monumental. Just think about that. A private company able to build something so magnificent. People need to remember though how bitter the railroads were in the 1960s. They were going bankrupt because the government had built millions of miles of freeways. So destroying Penn was their way of saying fuck you. If only NY had bought the station and had given MSG a nearby lot to build their arena.
It would've been great to find some construction workers who helped tare down Penn Station and asked them how they felt tearing down such a beautiful building.
this video should really have, deserves over a million views... the same type of idiocy came into play in the demolition/desctruction of the concourse in Cincinnati's Union Terminal... well, at least they managed to save half the thing, way better than absolutely nothing! but still... vandalism, and blindness in failing to recognize that not only are some things literally irreplaceable, but also priceless... some things have artistic/aesthetical/historical value that don't register on a "money meter", they're way more valuable than that!, but don't expect any MBA-types to be able to recognize that, they have that "blind spot" that only makes 'em think in terms of 1) money, and 2) short-term gain... if the egyptians thought like us, they would've demolished the pyramids to make big parking lots, saying it would make things easier for tourists!!!... (but WHAT is it that the tourists come to SEE???)
An act of mega-vandalism if there has ever been One. New York Times coined the term "mega vandalism" for this exact act of callousness. And we blame ISIS for destroying works of art!!!!
Was this the greatest railway station ever built....anywhere in the world? I think so. Its demolition was one of the most shocking things to happen in post war America. I'm a Brit, but I feel huge pain seeing this film footage, because I know we did the same over in the UK during the 1960's and 70's. We lost monumental stations such as the original Birmingham Snow Hill station, the Nottingham Victoria station, and Glasgow St. Enoch station. They were all great termini, and hugely impressive, but not as big or as impressive as Penn station.
I don't think it was built in 1910, either. It's part of the problem time period 1850 to 1900 or so. History was reset a couple hundred years ago, and this building is a perfect example of a new population just wandering in completely in awe of it and taking over. The narrative and backstory, with construction photos, was clever and convincing for awhile. But like many other stories, it probably wouldn't hold up. In some cases, buildings like this were taken down for commercial reasons.
The Pennsylvania Railroad owned Penn Station. Unfortunately, they were free to do whatever they wanted to with the building. Perhaps if there had been a huge public outcry and protests it might have given RR execs second thoughts, but no one seemed to care until after the station was demolished. Europe embraces it’s historical architecture, while the US has the dreadful mindset of “down with the old and up with the new”. We have lost so many beautiful, historic residential and commercial buildings that way, only to be replaced by strip malls, parking lots, and glass towers. We are a funny lot.
Ok how cool is this - the architect behind Penn Station was the brother of Mary Cassatt, the famous Impressionist artist. He went to the Gare d'Orsay for inspiration to build Penn Station. The Gare d'Orsay later became the Musée d'Orsay, the primary art museum for Impressionist art in France. His Sister's art is displayed there. Talk about full circle.
Great video!! I'm so glad that I have memories of it as a kid. I can remember gawking up at that glorious ceiling with the skylights! We would take Southern Railway's The Southerner to New Orleans. That's how my life long love affair with trains began!
I think tha was the most beautiful station i never see it in my life and they take down its so sad i just imagine how its gonna look on thist year like a museum
it had to go because as time goes by, the human potential is being stifled along with all that is good and beautiful. It would've put to shame "modern architecture" and make people think, remind them about better times, brighter times when we were creating cities we would love to live in.
This is the number 1 biggest bummer that they tore it down. Who were the terrible persons responsible for its demise. I can only hope they rebuild it as it was. There rebuilding now but it’s not gonna be good or enough.
What is "veronic"? Byronic, sure, but that's not what was said. I mean, MAYBE it's an adjectival form of Verona, but that doesn't really make any sense, either. Verona is lovely, but I would never think of it as indicating something of a huge scale.
This is a collection of about 410 photos of construction progress, various interior areas, and of the architectural model of the station. All photos were taken by the architectural firm which oversaw design of the station
Link keep getting deleted but if you go to Columbia university’s digital library collection and search for “Progress photographs taken by L. H. Dreyer and others during the construction of the Pennsylvania Terminal, New York City” you’ll find a collection of photos that i described above
I’ve also looked up the crap you’re spewing and no, it still doesn’t change anything. the fact that you can literally see different architect’s styles of building across different time periods all across the country should be enough to make you think otherwise. Also on the case of penn station there’s quite literally a photo from before construction even began of the cleared out empty lots that the infrastructure and station would be built on. Cmon man, even flat earth is more believable than this
Back whan amarica had great people of amarica i must say weathe u hate u hat him or not trump is are last typ of well know usa history making man like back in day of pa rr and henery ford and westinghouse
