The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-07-21
FINE NEW STATION SOON
Rehabilitation of New Yorks Grand
 Central Nearly Complete

CeHlIdl NedTly lOIllplele.
 The New York Tribune gives an in- teresting account of the remodeling of
 the New York Central station at Forty
 second street, New York city, from
 which we take these particulars:
 The principal feature of the remod-
 eled station will be a union waiting ! room of large proportions, lofty vaulted
 ceiling and considerable beauty. This
 great waiting room will occupy most of the Forty-second street end of the sta-
 ton. Space has been gained for 1t by
 merely shortening the tracks within the
 vast train shed, which extends from
 Forty street almost to Forty
 fifth street. This room includes the floor area of the former waiting room of
 the New York, New Haven and Hart ford road and more besides.
 The roof of this imposing chamber is mostly stained glass; arranged in
 eight huge tunnels or vaults. The walls are divided into arched opehings-three on the west side three on the east eight on the south side and eight on the
 north. The. wainscoting is of marble and rises higher than a mans head. The remainder of the walls Is of white plaster, and they are surmounted by an ornate frieZe and cornice of the same
 material. over each arch, in the frieze, stand out in bold, big letters of high re- lief the names of twenty-two of the principal cities reached by the lines which use the station. These cities are,
 beginning at the northwest corner of the room: Montreal, Syracuse. Utica, Troy, Albany Boston, Hartford, New Haven. Springfield, Newport, Providence, St. Louis, Cincinnati Chicago, Cleaveland Detroit, Niagara Falls, Buffalo. Geneva, Rochester, Watertown and Saratoga.
 There will be two platforms and they will have fifteen ticket windows each From half of these windows tickets for the New York Central and the Harlem lines will be sold, and from the other half tickets for points on the New York, New Haven and Hartford. Entrance to the union waiting room from these ticket offices will be through the lobby. The west entrance to this waiting room will be through vestibule f1fty-five feet wide, opening in Vanderbilt ave- nue. At this end also will be telegraph and telephone offices, women's waiting room, retiring room, tea room, which will be an innovation, and the flower stand. At the east end of the union waiting room there will be a marble staircase leading to the Forty-second street shuttle track of the Manhattan Elevated railway in Third avenue At this end also will be a package room, where passengers may store their par cels for brief periods; a smaking room, newsstand and the mems lavatories
 Passengers desiring to leave this un- ion waiting room in order to board trains will make their exits through the doors on the north side. They will then be standing on wide platform called the concourse. This will extend from the vestibule in Vanderbilt avenue on the west, almost to DepeW Place on the east, distance of three hundred and fifty feet, It can be approached from all sides and all streets, from all tracks and all platforms, and is to have an area of 1S,495 square feet. This con course will be thirty feet wide where 1t runs through the station proper, and when nearing the Depew Place side of the station will broaden into large square, This square will occupy the space now covered by the incoming waiting room and that paved part of Fourth avenue which is now occupied by cabs, and lies between the outgoing and incoming departments of the sta tion. This concourse will prove a great convenience when crowds gather to wit ness the incoming or the outgoing of famous persons or bodies of soldiers. It will also give easy and direct access to the gates which open upon the inter- train platforms. without obliging those passengers who have already purchased their tickets to go through the ticket offices, tbe main waiting room. or the doors of the waiting room, where the ticket inspectors and punchers stand. This improvement will be greatly ap- preciated by persons who carry parcels, commuters especially, who now have to bear their parcels in one hand and show their tickets with the other.
 At the east end of the Forty-second street front of the station will be a cab stand and an automobile stand under cover. Just north of this will be the waiting room for incoming trains. In the second story of this part of the building are to be the restaurant and luncheon counter. In the basement, where the restaurant was formerly placed a waiting room for emgrants will be fitted up.
 The station covers about the same area as the Philadelphia station, ex- tending 370 feet in Fortysecond street and 700 feet along Vanderbilt avenue and Depew Place. Of this space, 12530 square feet has been devoted to the un- ion waiting room, 1,232 square feet to the ticket offices, 3,666 to the retiring and toilet rooms, 3,92S to the Hobbies, 1106 to telegraph and telephone rooms and 1S,495 square feet to the concourse The area of the main waiting room of famous Broad street sta- tion is 1l0 by 113 feet, or F, 430 square feet, just 100 square feet less than Is in the union waiting room of tot