Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-12-26
HOTEL AND, THEATER
PART OF THE PENNSYLVANIA
TERMINAL IN MANHATTAN.
Plans Already Drawn for Mammoth
Building-Immense Crowds Will
Enter Underground Station.
Ernm the New York Sun.

From the New York Sun.
The plans of the Pennsylvania railroad
for its new central station in the heart OF
Manhattan include the construction OF
huge skyscraper hotel, which will probably
be the biggest of the many giant hostelries
recently projected in this city. Four entire
blocks of city property owned by the rail-
road company are available for this station
hotel. but only two of these will be utilized.
The plans have already been drawn by Nc
Kim, Mead & White, the architects to
whom the task of designing the terminal
has been intrusted but they have been
kept so close a secret that no hint of what
they contain has hitherto come out. Ever
since the details of the Pennsylvania tun-
mel project were announced early last
spring the greatest curiosity has been ex-
pressed as to what the railroad proposed
to do, above the street level. with the great
area of city property beneath which It's
central station is to be constructed. The
station is to lie between 10th and 1th ave-
nues. From 10th to Sth avenues 1t is to be
one block wide between S1st and sd
streets and from Sth to 7th avenue two
blocks wide between 31st and 33d streets).
The site is about twenty-eight acres In ALL
Every foot of real estate in this tract. has
been bought up by the company, which can,
therefore. do with it what 1t will. AS the
station itself will be underground, except
for waiting rooms and offices. there has
been q Wlue UGlu SptCuldllOU " WLdt
will be done.
Four Squares of Land.
The surface station to be built by the
road will cover only two of these blocks,
those bounded by 31st and SD streets, and
7th and Sth avenues. The buildings on the
two remaining blocks to the west of this
site. for the present at any rate, will be
undisturbed. What was to be done with
the other two blocks puzzled number OF
people, including certain aldermen. for 1t
could hardly be believed that SO wide
awake an institution the Pennsylvania
railroad would use 80 valuable a piece of
real estate for underground purposes only.
The rough general plans for the tunnel
work, as first revealed, called for only
glass-roofed one-story station on the model
of the famous DUAL d'Orsay in Paris. A
graded circular carriageway led from the
street to bridges above the two platforms
and tracks. Above these were ticket offices
and waiting rooms. That was as far as the
plans went then. They have been devel-
Oped since. but the secret of the company's
further intentions has been well kept
Hotel men to whom the company's design
was made known yesterday said that 1t was
illogical part of such great scheme as the
tunnel. and they intimated that If the
project is as well carried out as 1t Is likely
to be. the station hosiery Will prove a for
nlidable competitor to some other structures
in the Tenderloin district.
English Precedents.
The site will be all that could be desired
for a hotel. Hotel men recalled yesterday
that London has three such station hotels,
at Charing Cross, Kings Cross and St. Pan
cras, and, although the last two hotels are
in out Of the way and undesirable neigh
borhoods, where other large hotels have
failed, these pay a handsome profit to the
Midland and Great Northern Railway Com
panies, over the terminals of which they
are built There are others besides the
hotelkeeperS, however, who are awaiting
with interest the announcement of the
Pennsylvania full plans for it's station.
With site covering four blocks to deal
with and~ith thousands of persons brought
directly to 1t by rail, what cannot be done?
Theatrical men are anxious to know If
the scheme includes a theater or amuse-
ment hall. A skyscraper two blocks square
could include all-hotel. concert hail. thea
ter and a whole lot of other things besides.
What would become of Madison Square
Garden, for instance, II 1t should be de-
cided to build over the underground station
great amusement palace, with hotel
above that and a roof garden topping them
all2 So far as construction Is concerned
such thing is perfectly feasible, and
would probably be extremely profitable.
From time to time schemes to combine
in one set of buildings all sorts of amuse-
ments and business enterprises have been
launched in this city, and invariably they
have come to nothing. principally because
Of the enormous outlay necessary to pro-
vide site in a central part of the city.
Twenty million passengers a year are
expected to use the tunnel station when II
Is built. The three Pennsylvania ferries
across the North river carried q, 600 900
persons last year; the Long Island railroad
ferries carried 100000 or so, passengers
each way, of course, being counted. Count
ing half Of these as return trips and sup
posing that at least as many persons use
the tube tunnels, this means that about
2O.0OO.OOO Will be landed at the doors of
any building the Pennsylvania may put up.