Penn Station: NYC
It may come as a surprise to today’s visitors, but the bustling train depot was once a grand and imposing turn of the century building designed by prestigious architects McKim, Mead & White.
Replete with travertine quarry from Italy and 138-foot ceilings, the old Penn Station was a “beautiful Beaux Arts fortress,” as one architect put it.
By the 1950s, the station was suffering due to competition from planes and cars and in the 1960s, a plan was devised to move the train station below ground to make room for a sports arena—Madison Square Garden.
Today’s Penn Station handles more than three times the number of travelers it was designed to, and many of them likely wish they were walking the halls of the old station.
