Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-08-01
BIG STATION GROWING
Stone Work of Pennsy Station
in New York All Up.
EIGHT ACRES ENCLOSED
Monumental Terminal Was Idea Of
Architects.
MASONRY GOES UP QUICKLY
Design of Interior of Waiting Room
Suggested by the Great
Baths of Rome.
dAS0NRY GOES UP QUICKLY
Special Dispatch to The Star.

Special Dispatch to The Star.
NEW YORK. July 31.-The Pennsyl-
vania railroad today placed in position
the last piece of stone In the exterior of
its new station in New York city. This
involved the completion of stonework in
closing some eight acres of ground, and
marks a most important step in the fur
Their progress Of this undertaking.
To inclose this vast area has necessi-
tated the building of exterior walls near
ly half mile in length and has required
10000 cubic feet of pink granite. In adj
dit!on there has been utilized inside the
concourse G0,OOO cubic feet of stone.
total of $4,000 cubic feet of granite have
thus been utilized in the construction and
ornamentation of this building. II took
LILO freight cars to transport these 1900
tons of stone from Milford. Mass.
In addition to the granite the cOnstruc-
ton of this building has called for the
use of 1900 tons of steel. There have
also been set in place some 1o.Oo0.O9o
bricks, weighing total of $4,000 tons.
The first stone of the masonry work on
the building was laid June 10, 1NS. The
entire masonry was thus completed In ap-
proximately thirteen months after the
work was begun.
Built after the Roman Doric style or
architecture. the building covers the en-
tire area bounded by 18th and Sth avenues
and 31st and SD streets. The depth of
the property on both streets is 100 feet
1114 inches and the length of the building
is 7SS feet . inches, thus allowing for
extra wide sidewalks on both avenues.
The walls extend for 43O feet inches
from :i1st to BOD streets. the It'll avenue
facade signalling the main entrance.
They Did Themselves Proud.
In designing the exterior of the build
ing Messrs. Mckim, Mead & White, the
architects. were at pains to embody two
ideas: To express in SO far as was prac-
ticable, with the unusual condition of
tracks far below the street surface and in
spite of the absence of the conventional
train shed, the exterior design of a great
railway station in generally accepted
form, and also to give to the building the
character of a monumental gateway and
entrance to great metropolis.
Apart from these two ideas, the plan
of the station was designed to give the
greatest number of lines of circulation.
The structure is really monumental
bridge over the tracks, with entrances
to the streets on its main axes and on
all four sides. In this respect this build
ing is unique among the railway stations
of the world. affording the maximum
amount of entrance and exit facilities
possible.
The It'll avenue facade is composed
principally Of Roman doric colonnade,
double at the carriage entrances at the
street ends and at the main front
entrance for pedestrians in the center,
each Of the columns being four feet six
inches in diameter and thirty-five feet
high. Above the central colonnade is an
entabIature surmounted by a clock with
a dial seven feet in diameter. The center
of this clock is on the axial line OF sd
street, and sixty-one feet above the side
walk
This 9TH avenue facade was conceived
especially to express in largest possible
fashion a monumental gateway. 1t may
be compared in greatly magnified man.
through which passes SO much of the
traffic of that city.
As High as the Bourse.
The main body of the building APP
proximates in height the Bourse of
Paris, reaching seventy-six feet above
the street level. With entrances through
each of the two corners of the station
on 7th avenue there are carriage drives.
each about sixty-three feet wide, or the
width of a standard New York city street,
The frontages on 31st and 33d streets are
similar. The walls Of the exterior of
the carriage drives are of plaster treat
ment for a distance of some 279 feet.
Midway along the sides of the build
ing, signalling the entrances on 3Ist
and 33d streets. are series of columns of
the same dimensions as those on the 7th
and Sth avenue facades, for a distance of
III feet. Above these colonnades there
are also sculptured groups supporting
beyond there are interrupted colonnades.
after which the walls are of plaster
treatment to Sth avenue, with the ex-
ception of forty-five feet colonnades
entrances to the concourse.
The Sth avenue frontage is treated on
the plan of pilasters, except for A feet
& inches, which are broken by columns
into intervals of three spaces to mark an
other spacious entrance to the main floor
of the cOncOurSe.
Waiting Room a Feature.
One of the distinctive features of this
building is the waiting room, which eX-
tends from 31st to SD streets, its walls
parallel to eth and Sth avenues for a
distance of 314 feet inches. The height
of this room is 80 feet and its width 1os
feet s inches. The walls of the waiting
room above the main body Of the build
ing contain on each side three semi-circu-
lar windows of radius of :;3 feet inches
and 66 feet inches wide at the base.
There is also window of like size at each
end of the waiting room.
The dignified design of the interior OF
the general waiting room. while fully
adapted to modern ideas, was suggested
by the great halls and basilicas of Rome,
such as the baths Of Caracalla. Titus and
Diocletian and the basilica of Constantine.
which are perhaps the greatest examples
in history Of large roofed-in areas treated
in a monumental manner.
While the facades of the station were
to suggest the imposing charac-
ter Of these ancient Roman temples and
baths, the impression intended to be made
upon the layman approaching the station
in full view OF the exterior of the general
waiting room with its huge semi-circular
windows is that of one OF the leading
stations Of the world.
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