Customer Reviews

Grand Central Terminal: Railroads, Engineering, and Architecture in New York City

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

Yes this book provides an excellent overview of the historical and social context of the building of Grand Central terminal in New York, but where it excels is in conveying the genius behind the engineering of the complex.

That the terminal continues to function so well in the 21st century is testimony to the creativity and forethought of the original design. The engineers, learning from the very short life of the original terminals due to skyrocketing volumes of passengers, set out to ensure that the new Grand Central would be flexible and handle ever increasing traffic. Of course intercity rail travel is almost dead in the US and the premiere passenger trains which called on Grand Central are long gone, but the station functions very well as a gateway for ever growing numbers of commuters to New York's northern suburbs.

Also featured in the book is the role of the terminal's design played in its success. Even today walking through the terminal is an uplifting experience surrounded by the grand scale of its wonderful architecture. The author expands upon the process where the building was designed to impress and create an image and be more than just a functional building. Part of what made this possible was covering over the Park Avenue rail yards north of the station thereby providing the New York Central with a salable asset to fund the terminal. They succeded in creating what still remains some of the most valuable real estate in the City.

Anyone interested in urban history, realroads, architecture or business history will find this a fascinating book. The author did extensive research and has provided new insights into the topic... something not easy to do given the vintage of the terminal and the several books already focusing on Grand Central. Highly recommended.

I found this book to be very easy reading. It compresses just about every aspect of Grand Central Station into 222 pages. I would say that as an overview of how the station was built, for who, and why this is a great book to start out with. For those of us who know something of the building, the book is still very interesting but in the end lacks some of the detailed information that I would have liked to have seen. Still, the incredible lengths that the author goes to in informing the reader of just how vast the Grand Central Terminal is must have been both daunting and difficult to explain. I give most credit to the author for his ability to relate the political and historical relevance of the terminal complex to complicated engineering used to construct it. in essence, Grand Central Terminal in not merely the station we all have seen and admire, but a complex system of real estate and tunnels all with a magnificent Beaux-Arts concourse.

This story of the design and construction of New York's Grand Central Terminal in 1913 provides a coverage not only of the project and the ten years it took to complete, but its impact on the development of Manhattan. Any with an interest in New York City history will find Grand Central Terminal to be an excellent blend of engineering and social history, packed with details and vintage photos.

If you're looking for a book that describes the fascinating engineering undertaking of building the Grand Central Terminal, the construction of the underground railroad yards, the extension of the Park Avenue tunnel, the electrification of all rails, etc., this is not the book you want. I had hoped for much more detail about how the building was constructed, the setting of the piers, the construction of the walls and roof, the vaulted ceiling, the fascinating track patterns and design, the motive power, the underground city, and the process of receiving inbound passenger trains and the makeup of outbound passenger trains. All of this is given mere passing reference. Instead, we are given pages and pages and pages of head-banging tedium describing the historical buildup of the New York Central over a span of 60 or 70 years with concentration on the endless business deals, the evolution of family fortunes, the politics of mergers, the infighting between competitors, the wars between the Vanderbilts and Albany, claims and counterclaims from the design teams, even a twenty-page digression about the history and curriculum of the Ecole des Beaux-Art in Paris. The pages are loaded with countless figures about financial status, property values, passenger ridership, suburban growth, legal restrictions, business entanglements, corporate dealings, court decisions, historical dates, and financial cost data. This is a very tedious and exhaustive account of the growth of Manhattan as influenced by the New York Central. As a history book, it is supported by thousands of grinding facts. Unfortunately, I cannot find anything about how the building itself was constructed. I don't even know the color of the interior walls, for instance, or how the amazing windows were made. It's a good history book, but it's mislabeled because the Grand Central Terminal building itself is largely bypassed.

I agree with the prior reviews that lay out the many strengths of this remarkable book quite ably. I approach Grand Central Terminal from the perspective of an amateur historian interested in the history of the New York Central System of railroads. This book is quite simply the best work I've come across in terms of outlining the interrelationships between the Central system of railroads, and the greater New York City area. The author set out to explain why the station complex was designed as it is, and discovered the only way to do this (not surprisingly) was to develop an understanding of the functions the railroad that built it expected it to serve. I have not read a "railroad-themed" history that covers its chosen subject any better than this book does.

grand central terminal by kurt C. Scilcting excelant book couidn't put it down