The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1910-09-08
Pennsylvania Terminal Station
New York, Opened For Traffic

erty on both streets is 799 feet 11A
7sS feet inches, thus allowing for
extra wide sidewalks on both avenues
The walls extend for 430 feet 6 inches
from Thirty-first street to Thirty-sec-
ond street. The main body of the
building rises IS feet above the street
level.
In designing the building the archi-
tects. Hessrs. McKim. Mead and White
sought to express as far as was prac-
ticable with tracks far below the
street surface and in the absence of
the conventional train shed. the ex-
terror OF a great railway station in
a generally accepted form. and the
character of a monumental gateway
to great metropolis.
Apart from those two ideas. the
station was designed to give the
greater number of lines OF circula-
ton. The structure is really a mon
umental bridge over the tracks. with
entrances to the streets on the main
axes and on all four sides. In this
respect this building is unique among
railway stations of the world
The Seventh avenue facade. where
is the main entrance. was conceived
especially to carry out the idea OF the
monumental gateway. 1t is composed
OF a colonnade, which is double at the
carriage entrances at the street ends
and at the main front entrance for
pedectrians in the centetr. Above
the central colonnade is an entabla-
seven-foot dial, the center Of which is
on the axial line of Thirty-second
sereet. Each OF the columns is AZ
feet in diameter and 35 feet high
The carriage drives at the Thirty.
first and Thirty-third street corners
are each about So feet wide, or the
width of a standard New York City
street
On passing through the entrance for
foot passengers one comes to an ar.
cade 225 feet long and IS feet wide
fianked by shops and booths on both
sides. At the further end of the ar.
cade are the restaurant, lunch rooms
and cafe.
From the arcade one enters the
general waiting room, the floor OF
which is on the first level below the
street. This room. the largest in any
railroad station in the world, extends
from Thirty-first to Thirty-third
street, its walls parallel to Seventh
and Eighth avenues. for distance OF
III feet. The height Of this room is
$50 feet and 103 wide.
The walls Of the waiting room above
the main body OF the building contain
on each side three semi-circular win
dows OF a radius of 80 feet, 4 inches
and 66 feet two inches wide at the
base. There is also a window OF like
size at each end of the waiting room
In its general aspect this huge wait
Ing room was modelled after the struc
lures of ancient Rome, such as the
baths Of Caracalla, Titus and Clocle
tian and the basilica of Constantine
which are perhaps the greatest exam
pies in history of large rooted areas
treatedin q monumental manner.
Within the waiting room are located
ticket offices and baggage checking
windows. Adjoining it on the west
are two subsidiary waiting rooms. 81
by 100 feet, for men and women
These open into retiring rooms.
On the same level with these wait
+ ing rooms the main baggage room
with $50 feet of frontage is located
This is for the use of transfer wagons
and covers the full area occupied by
the arcade and restaurants ON the