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Grand Central Terminal



The southern entrance to the station from 42nd St. The statue is up on the roadway level (the elevated approach road from Park Ave. splits and goes around the outside of the building). It's Cornelius Vanderbilt, who built the original Grand Central Terminal in the 1860s and railroaded several lines together to create the namesake NY Central Railroad.


Entering the grand center of the station, from a different era when trains were the most important connection in the world and were glorified instead of despised.


Restored back to its 1913 former glory, the station had been in a period of decrepitude for many years after deregulation (into the late 1990s). Thank New York City for a job well done, luckily during the height of economic prosperity before the next decade's collapse.


Part of the restoration was to repaint and readorn the celestial ceiling, with constellations splayed out over the cavernous chamber. As seen in the second photo, a few of the stars are lit, some brighter than others, all representing how they would appear in the night sky.


All that restoration can't hide structural cracking. But, hey, look, the Northwest Passage! Henry Hudson will sure blow a gasket when he finds out it's been here all along!


Down, down into levels below levels, as deep as public spaces go before you have to pay to enter the subway area.


If the ceilings were restored, they were done very timidly. Otherwise, they may have just been cleaned off but otherwise left unretouched. So apologies for the poor image quality, but hopefully you can make out some of what's going on here. (Looks like a tribute to the public works construction of ancient Rome.)

Down into the subway
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