The restoration of Grand Central Terminal was driven by the vision, leadership and passion of Peter Stangl, the first President of Metro-North Railroad, and realized through the creativity, professionalism and determination of architect John Belle and his team at Beyer Blinder Belle as well as the many dedicated employees of the Metro-North Railroad and the MTA.

Peter E. Stangl
Chairman & CEO, MTA 1991-1995

President, MTA Metro-North Railroad 1983-1991

John Belle

Architect & Founding Partner

Beyer Blinder Belle

Submitted by @lampbane

GRAND CENTRAL TERMINAL

HAS BEEN PLACED ON THE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC RAILROAD LANDMARKS

THIS TERMINAL WAS OPENED IN 1913 BY THE NEW YORK CENTRAL AND NEW YORK, NEW HAVEN & HARTFORD RAILROADS. DESIGNED IN THE 20TH CENTURY, GRAND CENTRAL TERMINAL IS RECOGNIZED AS A UNIQUE RAILROAD STRUCTURE THAT HAS STOOD THE TEST OF TIME AND SERVED THE PUBLIC WELL FOR 100 YEARS.

1913 - 2013

 

NATIONAL RAILWAY HISTORICAL SOCIETY
FEBRUARY 1, 2013

NATIONAL HISTORIC CIVIL ENGINEERING LANDMARK

AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CIVIL ENGINEERS

1852

GRAND CENTRAL TERMINAL, NEW YORK

SPEARHEADED BY CHIEF ENGINEER WILLIAM J. WILGUS AND CONSTRUCTED UNDER CHALLENGING CONDITIONS WITH NO INTERRUPTION OF EXISTING TRAIN SERVICE, GRAND CENTRAL TERMINAL WAS A TRIUMPH OF INNOVATIVE ENGINEERING IN THE DESIGN OF URBAN TRANSPORTATION CENTERS. ITS NOVEL, TWO-LEVEL STATION, MADE POSSIBLE BY ELECTRIC TRACTION, STREAMLINED BOTH TRAIN AND PASSENGER MOVEMENT BY SEPARATING LONG-HAUL AND SUBURBAN TRAFFIC AND EMPLOYING AN EXTENSIVE SYSTEM OF PEDESTRIAN RAMPS THROUGHOUT THE FACILITY. WITH THE TRACKS AND PLATFORMS BELOW GRADE, THE LEASE OF "AIR RIGHTS" FOR MORE THAN TWENTY FIVE OVERHEAD BUILDINGS HELPED FUND THE PROJECT.

Opened to the Public: 1913

Dedicated: 2013

Submitted by @lampbane

GRAND CENTRAL TERMINAL

HAS BEEN DESIGNATED A

NATIONAL HISTORIC LANDMARK

THIS SITE POSSESSES NATIONAL SIGNIFICANCE IN COMMEMORATING THE HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

CONSTRUCTED FROM 1903 TO 1913, THIS MAJOR TRANSPORTATION TERMINAL REPRESENTS A MILESTONE IN AMERICAN DESIGN, ARCHITECTURE AND ENGINEERING.

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

DESIGNATED 1976

Submitted by @lampbane

You're in the Biltmore Room, once a popular arrival area for long-distance travelers on the New York Central Railroad.

Formerly nicknamed the "Incoming Train Room" and the "Kissing Room," this room served as a space where arriving travelers would greet and reunite with loved ones.

In its heyday, a lot of those travelers were soldiers returning home from the battlefield.

Submitted by @lampbane

ABRAHAM LINCOLN STATUE
UNION SQUARE PARK

One of three sculptural renditions of Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) in New York City's parks, this bronze larger-than-life sized statue by Henry Kirke Brown (1814-1886) today stands vigil on a busy crossroads at the north side of Union Square Park.

Abraham Lincoln was born in a log cabin in Hardin County (now Larue County), Kentucky, and was mostly self-educated. He settled in New Salem, Illinois in 1831 and worked as a storekeeper, surveyor, and postmaster while studying law. In 1834 Lincoln was elected to the state legislature and in 1836 became a lawyer. Although he served as a Whig from 1847 to 1849, he lost two bids for the Senate in 1856 and 1858. Nonetheless Lincoln made an impression on his state and his nation over the course of his seven debates with Democratic opponent Stephen A. Douglas. Lincoln successfully ran for president as a Republican in 1860. While campaigning he made his first visit to New York City in February 1860, and delivered a famous speech in the Cooper Union's Great Hall. By inauguration day in March 1861, seven southern states had seceded from the Union, and four more would follow in April. As the nation plunged into Civil War, Lincoln proved a skillful and thoughtful leader and orator. In 1863 he issued the Emancipation Proclamation to free the slaves and delivered the Gettysburg Address that eloquently memorialized fallen soldiers.

Lincoln won re-election in 1864 against George McClellan. Five days after Confederate general Robert E. Lee's surrender on April 9, 1865, Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth while attending a play at Ford's Theater in Washington, D. C. He died the next morning. Travelling to all the principal cities in the United States, Lincoln's funeral cortege arrived in New York City on April 24, and his body lay in state at City Hall. Lincoln is buried at Oak Ridge, Illinois, near Springfield.

Not long after Lincoln's death, the statue of Lincoln was sponsored by the Union League Club, a Republican organization, which retained the services of the noted sculptor Henry Kirke Brown. Though Brown, like many of his generation, made an obligatory visit to Italy to study, he was part of a group of sculptors attempting to establish a truly American sculptural idiom. In his statue of Lincoln-cast in 1868, but dedicated September 16, 1870-he combines a classically-styled pose with a perceptive naturalism, uniting realistic detail with an idealistic stance. Brown also created a similar portrait of Lincoln in Prospect Park (1869), and his nephew and pupil Henry Kirke Bush-Brown (1857-1935) crafted the bronze bust for Gettysburg's Lincoln Memorial (1911).

The sculpture originally stood in the street bed at the southwest corner of Union Square, at the location today occupied by the statue of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. In 1875 the sculpture was protected by the installation of an elaborate stone and bronze rail fence, into which were inscribed the words from his second inaugural address, "...with malice toward none; charity toward all." In 1930 when Union Square Park was completely redesigned to accommodate new subway construction, the statue, minus its fence was relocated to its current position in axial alignment with the Independence Flagpole (1930) and Henry Kirke Brown's striking equestrian sculpture of

George Washington (1856) located at the park's southern plaza. Abraham Lincoln was conserved in 1992.

Alan Sonfist

The Narrative History of Bellmore
1993
Hand-painted porcelain tile

Commissioned by Metropolitan Transportation Authority Arts for Transit and MTA Long Island Rail Road

Submitted by @lampbane

James Little

 

Radiant Memories

 

2020

 

Laminated glass

Fabricated by Glasmalerei Peters Studios

 

Commissioned by MTA Arts & Design and Long Island Rail Road

 

#mtaarts

Submitted by @lampbane

Mickalene Thomas

 

Untitled

 

2017

 

Mosaic and glass Fabricated by Miotto Mosaic Art Studio

 

Commissioned by MTA Arts & Design and New York City Transit

 

#mtaarts

Submitted by @lampbane