History of Grand Central Terminal

Grand Central Terminal (GCT; also referred to as Grand Central Station or simply as Grand Central) is a commuter rail terminal located at 42nd Street and Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Grand Central is the southern terminus of the Metro-North Railroad's Harlem, Hudson and New Haven Lines, serving the northern parts of the New York metropolitan area. It also contains a connection to the New York City Subway at Grand Central–42nd Street station. The terminal is the second-busiest train station in North America, after New York Penn Station. The distinctive architecture and interior design of Grand Central Terminal's station house have earned it several landmark designations, including as a National Historic Landmark. Its Beaux-Arts design incorporates numerous works of art. Grand Central Terminal is one of the world's ten most visited tourist attractions, with 21.6 million visitors in 2018, excluding train and subway passengers. The terminal's Main Concourse is often used as a meeting place, and is especially featured in films and television. Grand Central Terminal contains a variety of stores and food vendors, including upscale restaurants and bars, a food hall, and a grocery marketplace. The building is also noted for its libraries, event hall, tennis club, control center and offices for the railroad, and sub-basement power station. Grand Central Terminal was built by and named for the New York Central Railroad; it also served the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad and, later, successors to the New York Central. Opened in 1913, the terminal was built on the site of two similarly-named predecessor stations, the first of which dates to 1871. Grand Central Terminal served intercity trains until 1991, when Amtrak began routing its trains through nearby Penn Station. The East Side Access project, which will bring Long Island Rail Road service to the new Grand Central Madison station beneath the terminal, is expected to be completed in late 2022. Grand Central covers 48 acres (19 ha) and has 44 platforms, more than any other railroad station in the world. Its platforms, all below ground, serve 30 tracks on the upper level and 26 on the lower. In total, there are 67 tracks, including a rail yard and sidings; of these, 43 tracks are in use for passenger service, while the remaining two dozen are used to store trains. Another eight tracks and four platforms are being built on two new levels deep underneath the existing station as part of East Side Access.

The Main Concourse is the primary concourse of Grand Central Terminal, a railway station in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The space is located at the center of the terminal's station building. The distinctive architecture and design of the Main Concourse helped earn several landmark designations for the station, including as a National Historic Landmark. The concourse, along with some other interior spaces, has been protected as an interior New York City Landmark since 1980. The room's Beaux-Arts design incorporates numerous works of art. The terminal is one of the world's ten most-visited tourist attractions, with 21.6 million visitors in 2018, excluding train and subway passengers.The Main Concourse is located on the upper platform level of Grand Central, in the geographical center of the station building. The 35,000-square-foot (3,300 m2) concourse leads directly to most of the terminal's upper-level tracks, although some are accessed from passageways near the concourse. The Main Concourse is usually filled with bustling crowds and is often used as a meeting place.Opened with the rest of the terminal in 1913, the Main Concourse held numerous events, exhibitions, and other attractions over the next decades. In World War II, its east balcony became a United Service Organizations canteen. In 1944, its ceiling proved to be damaged beyond repair, and was covered over with a false ceiling, replicating the artistry of the original work. In 1967, the first train departure display was installed in the Main Concourse. The display, affectionately known as the Big Board, was replaced with more modern equipment several times (in 1985, 1996, and 2019). In the mid-20th century, the room started to deteriorate, its windows were darkened, advertisements were installed on its walls, and bank kiosks were placed on its floor. In the late 1990s, a restoration project overhauled the terminal, restoring the concourse nearly to its 1913 appearance. The biggest change was the addition of the east staircase, an element planned but never implemented until then. No major changes have been made since the overhaul finished in 1998.

Grand Central Terminal is a major commuter rail terminal in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, serving the Metro-North Railroad's Harlem, Hudson and New Haven Lines. It is the most recent of three functionally similar buildings on the same site. The current structure was built by and named for the New York Central Railroad, though it also served New York Central's successors as well as the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad.

Grand Central Tower (also known as 175 Park Avenue) was a scrapped proposal by Penn Central to have a skyscraper built on top of Grand Central Terminal in 1968. It was designed by Marcel Breuer and would have been 950 feet (290 m) tall. The plan itself drew major opposition from the public and architects, especially from Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, as it would have resulted in the destruction of the terminal. The plan was scrapped after it was settled in a court case in 1978, which meant Penn Central could not build the tower.

Manhattan is a large scale mural by the German artist and colorist Josef Albers. The mural was first installed in New York City's MetLife Building, originally the Pan Am Building. Removed in 2001 during renovations of the building's lobby, the mural was rebuilt in 2019 according to Albers' original specifications. It is now installed in the lobby of the MetLife Building, and placed backwards at the summit of the escalators of the modernist skyscraper and Grand Central Terminal's Main Concourse. The work, 28 feet (8.5 m) tall by 54 feet (16 m) wide, was created using formica in red, white, and black. The original work was laden with asbestos.

The Grand Central Art Galleries were the exhibition and administrative space of the nonprofit Painters and Sculptors Gallery Association, an artists' cooperative established in 1922 by Walter Leighton Clark together with John Singer Sargent, Edmund Greacen, and others. Artists closely associated with the Grand Central Art Galleries included Hovsep Pushman, George de Forest Brush, and especially Sargent, whose posthumous show took place there in 1928.The Galleries were active from 1923 until 1994. For 29 years they were located on the sixth floor of Grand Central Terminal. At their 1923 opening, the Galleries covered 14,000 square feet (1,300 m2) and offered nine exhibition areas and a reception room, described as "the largest sales gallery of art in the world." In 1958 the Galleries moved to the second floor of the Biltmore Hotel, where they had six exhibition rooms and an office. They remained at the Biltmore for 23 years, until it was converted into an office building. The Galleries then moved to 24 West 57th Street, where they remained until they ceased activity.In addition to their main offices, the Grand Central Art Galleries directed a number of other enterprises. They launched the Grand Central School of Art in 1923, opened a branch gallery at Fifth Avenue and 51st Street in 1933, and in 1947 established Grand Central Moderns to show non-figurative works. The Grand Central Art Galleries were also responsible for the creation, design, and construction of the United States Pavilion at the Venice Biennale.

The Grand Central Oyster Bar & Restaurant is a seafood restaurant located on the lower level of Grand Central Terminal at 42nd Street and Park Avenue in Manhattan, New York City.

The Grand Central–42nd Street station (also signed as 42nd Street–Grand Central) is a major station complex of the New York City Subway. Located in Midtown Manhattan at 42nd Street between Madison and Lexington Avenues, it serves trains on the IRT Lexington Avenue Line, the IRT Flushing Line and the 42nd Street Shuttle. The complex is served by the 4, 6, and 7 trains at all times; the 5 and 42nd Street Shuttle (S) trains at all times except late nights; the <6> train during weekdays in the peak direction; and the <7> train during rush hours and early evenings in the peak direction. The station is adjacent to Grand Central Terminal, which serves all Metro-North Railroad lines east of the Hudson River. There are multiple exits to Grand Central Terminal and to nearby buildings such as One Vanderbilt and the Chrysler Building. Numerous elevators make the station compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. The present shuttle station was constructed for the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) as an express station on the city's first subway line, which was approved in 1900. The station opened on October 27, 1904, as one of the original 28 stations of the New York City Subway. As part of the Dual Contracts, the Flushing Line platform opened in 1915. After the Lexington Avenue Line platforms opened in 1918, the original station became the eastern terminal of the 42nd Street Shuttle, reconfigured with three tracks and two platforms. The Grand Central–42nd Street station complex has been reconstructed numerous times over the years, including in the early 21st century, when the shuttle station was reconfigured. Grand Central–42nd Street is the second busiest station in the 424-station system, with 45,745,700 passengers in 2019; only the Times Square station complex has more riders.

Agern was a Scandinavian restaurant in New York City. The restaurant opened in 2016 in the former men's smoking lounge of Grand Central Terminal. After Agern closed, the restaurant Cornelius began operating in the space.

The Campbell is a bar and cocktail lounge in Grand Central Terminal in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The space, long known as the Campbell Apartment, was once the office of American financier John W. Campbell, a member of the New York Central Railroad's board of directors. It was later used as office space, as a studio by CBS and as a jail by Metro-North Railroad. Renovations in 1999 and 2007 restored the space to its original opulence at a total cost of nearly $2 million. Temporarily closed in 2016, the bar was reopened the following year under new management.Located in the southwestern corner of the Grand Central Terminal building—above the northeastern corner of 42nd Street and Vanderbilt Avenue—the space is reached by a staircase from the terminal's balcony level.

The MetLife Building (also 200 Park Avenue and formerly the Pan Am Building) is a skyscraper at Park Avenue and 45th Street, north of Grand Central Terminal, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Designed in the International style by Richard Roth, Walter Gropius, and Pietro Belluschi and completed in 1962, the MetLife Building is 808 feet (246 m) tall with 59 stories. It was advertised as the world's largest commercial office space by square footage at its opening, with 2.4 million square feet (220,000 m2) of usable office space. As of 2021, the MetLife Building remains one of the 100 tallest buildings in the United States. The MetLife Building contains an elongated octagonal massing with the longer axis perpendicular to Park Avenue. The building sits atop two levels of railroad tracks leading into Grand Central Terminal. The facade is one of the first precast concrete exterior walls in a building in New York City. In the lobby is a pedestrian passage to Grand Central's Main Concourse, a lobby with artwork, and a parking garage at the building's base. The roof also contained a heliport that briefly operated during the 1960s and 1970s. The MetLife Building's design has been widely criticized since it was proposed, largely due to its location next to Grand Central Terminal. Proposals for a skyscraper to replace Grand Central Terminal were announced in 1954 to raise money for the New York Central Railroad and New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, the financially struggling railroads that operated the terminal. Subsequently, plans were announced for what later became the MetLife Building, to be built behind the terminal rather than in place of it. Work on the project, initially known as Grand Central City, started in 1959 and the building was formally opened on March 7, 1963. At its opening, the building was named for Pan American World Airways, for which it served as headquarters. The Metropolitan Life Insurance Company (MetLife) bought the Pan Am Building in 1981 and used it as their headquarters before selling the building in 2005. The MetLife Building has been renovated several times in its history, including in the mid-1980s, early 2000s, and late 2010s.

Pershing Square is a public plaza in Manhattan, New York City, located where Park Avenue and 42nd Street intersect in front of Grand Central Terminal. The main roadway of Park Avenue crosses over 42nd Street on the Park Avenue Viaduct, also known as the Pershing Square Viaduct. Two service roads, one northbound and one southbound, connect 42nd Street with the main roadway of Park Avenue, at 40th Street. Pershing Square was named after John J. Pershing in 1919. The name was originally supposed to apply to the block bounded by Park Avenue, Lexington Avenue, 41st Street, and 42nd Street. Three buildings were ultimately developed on the block in the 1920s: the Pershing Square Building, 110 East 42nd Street, and the Chanin Building. Subsequently, the name applied to the service roads of the Park Avenue Viaduct. A tourist information center under the viaduct, at Pershing Square, was built in 1939; it was later reconfigured to be a store and then a restaurant. The service roads between 42nd and 41st Streets were converted into a pedestrian public plaza in 2018.