Features March 2018
Mighty Penn
On the “Rebuild Penn Station” movement, and on Penn Station’s architectural history.
The Pennsylvania Station in New York
Is like some vast basilica of old
That towers above the terror of the dark
As bulwark and protection to the soul.
—Langston Hughes
Through it one entered the city like a god . . . . One scuttles in now like a rat.
—Vincent Scully
It is the easiest thing in the world to convince someone that Penn Station should be rebuilt. All it takes is a look at a photograph of the original station and then a look at Penn Station today. The subterranean warren huddled under Madison Square Garden is one of the most disagreeable public spaces in New York, or in any major Western city. The public usually becomes inured to bad design, through a combination of...
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