Penn Station 2.0 has been undergoing a $600 million revamp in recent months -- forcing the closure of some businesses, like the popular commuter bar Tracks (which triumphantly reopened last week) -- and these renovations have offered some glimpses into the past.
The original Pennsylvania Station was devastatingly demolished in the 1960s, but some of it remains underneath modern-day materials. And the latest find is a real gut punch to anyone who has ever entered the current Penn Station contemplating what came before it (a grand and sturdy structure built for film scenes and trench coats).
Untapped NY has spotted Guastavino tiles and vaulted ceilings amidst the construction zone, which they note "is part of a passageway which once led from the LIRR concourse to IRT or the 1, 2, and 3 trains as they are known today." This space was "boarded up in the 1980s," sealed off from prying eyes, and in turn closed off the "Baggage and Parcel Carousel Office, where commuters could store their luggage." (The latter was later "used as office space for Tracks"!)
We dropped by today to see what we could see — to get there, you'll need to find this slim doorway near the south end of the southbound local platform, where the stairs descend into Penn Station.
Guastavino tiles hidden in Penn Station
This may be the last remains of the Guastavino tilework in the station (though there is plenty around NYC), and it seems worth saving. We reached out to Amtrak, and a spokesperson, Jason Abrams, told us, "We are looking at options for potential restoration." As for what the area may become, Abrams says they are considering their options there as well.
The NY Times pointed out this hidden gem in 2014:
If you think the old Pennsylvania Station has completely disappeared, get off a No. 1 train at 34th Street-Penn Station, walk to the southernmost exit and press your nose to the safety-glass panel at the top of the landing. Then look up. Those herringbone tile vaults you see are — unmistakably — the work of the Guastavino Fireproof Construction Company. They were installed in 1909 as McKim, Mead & White’s masterpiece of a train station took form. And like several other peripheral architectural elements in the colossal structure, they escaped destruction 50 years ago.
Another piece of Penn Station has been hiding in plain sight all along—an entire building at 42 West 31st Street, the Penn Station Service Building designed by Charles McKim (of McKim, Mead, & White) and William Symmes Richardson. It's been there since 1908, and since it was still in use and not physically attached to the original Pennsylvania Station, it was not torn down with it in 1963. In the 1980s, the NY Times called it a "little-noted element of the old station... a monumental building in its own right."
Here's some old footage of Midtown's once-grand transit hub.
