When the Landmarks Preservation Commission was created in 1965, it gave Grand Central’s protectors more ammunition in the fight to preserve the space, especially once the terminal was designated as a New York City landmark in 1967. ( The New York Times' architecture critic Ada Louise Huxtable called the building “gigantically second rate” upon its completion.) Luckily, the train station was spared-at least for the moment.
So what did end up getting built? The Pan Am Building, now known as the MetLife Building, a 58-story glass-and-steel tower that stuck out like a sore thumb against Grand Central’s Beaux-Arts façade. Pei even proposed a cylindrical behemoth called the Hyperboloid to be built in the terminal’s place, though it ultimately never got off the ground. Rumblings about tearing down Grand Central Terminal first began in 1954, when New York Central (the rail company that owned Grand Central Terminal) first proposed replacing the downtrodden station with a money-making skyscraper. Train revenues were declining, leaving the station’s future uncertain. The ceiling of the main concourse, with its massive mural of constellations, was blackened from grime and tobacco smoke, the roof leaked, and a giant Kodak ad loomed large over the station. Its Beaux-Arts beauty-which had once helped spur the growth of Midtown (indirectly leading to the construction of icons like the Chrysler Building and the Waldorf Astoria Hotel)-had become something of an eyesore by the mid-20th-century. Though it opened to great fanfare in 1913, welcoming more than 150,000 visitors on its first day, Grand Central Terminal lost its sparkle as the decades wore on. But even with the new organization in place, Penn Station’s east side counterpart, Grand Central Terminal, nearly suffered a similar fate. The idea was to protect the city’s iconic, historic structures, with the Astor Library (now the Public Theater) becoming one of its first landmarked buildings in 1965. In the aftermath of the destruction of the old Penn Station in 1963-a move that The New York Times described as “a monumental act of vandalism against one of the largest and finest landmarks of its age of Roman elegance”-the Landmarks Preservation Commission was created by then-Mayor Robert F. Given the current focus on preservation, it seems an appropriate time to look back to when that concept was still brand-new, and an unlikely rescuer stepped in to save a decaying train station. This year, as the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission celebrates its 50th anniversary, blogger Jeremiah Moss has been spearheading a campaign called #SaveNYC, which is aimed at stopping the destruction of New York City’s quirky, one-of-a-kind establishments. the Yankees-but near the top of that list for many residents is the preservation of historic buildings and other iconic structures. New Yorkers are passionate about many things-proper sidewalk etiquette, their pizza vs.
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