Pennsylvania Railroad Station History

sports arena upon the site presently occupied by the Pennsylvania Railroad Station.” When the Pennsylvania Railroad and Long Island Railroad applied for permits in 1904 to lay railroad tracks within the city of New York, the Board of the Rapid Transit Railroad commission authorized the company to “acquire and maintain a terminal and station which shall occupy the four city blocks bounded by 31st Street, Seventh Avenue, 33rd Street and Ninth Avenue.” The situation that the Planning Commission and the Public Service Commission were dealt with was whether the land that the Pennsylvania Railroad “had been empowered to acquire -- solely for railroad purposes” -- was allowed to use the current site that that station was on for non-railroad purposes.

Demolition crews began mutilating what once stood for an “age of expansive elegance.” The colors began to come alive again and left a “dazed and confused” feeling on everyone their. “Until the first blow fell, no one was convinced that Penn Station would really be demolished or that New York would permit this monumental act of vandalism against one of the largest and finest landmarks of its age of roman elegance.” Once the demolition crews began lowering the stocky eagles off the perch where they stood since 1910, a ceremony broke out among the crowds. Six architects continued to picket the demolition and called it an “act of shame.” According to the Turner Construction company and the Madison Square Garden Corporation, the demolition would be done it sections with new construction beginning immediately after the sites were cleared. PRR would put up $20,000,000 to demolish the above ground portion as well as renovated what is left of the underground station and pour a concrete slab for what would become Madison Square Garden. All twenty-two stone eagles were transported to a nearby parking lot while the 84 doric columns faced an unknown future. Following the start of demolition, AGBANY continued to speak out against the demolition and urged the commission to “study in detail all aspects of the complex - including the feasibility of moving Madison Square Garden to another site.” Eventually AGBANY found out that the City Planning Commission deliberately made no effort in reviewing the proposed plans made by them and could have told them not to waste their time. The Pennsylvania Railroad finally got what it always wanted, the demolition of a debt driven station for a new sports arena that would bring well over $2,100,000 in rent and rid them of their debt. In an editorial submitted to the New York Times three days after the demolition had begun, it stated that “Any city gets