1910-1963 The destruction of Penn Station

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Hat tip, Joe.MyGod: The Destruction Of Penn Station

1910-1963 The destruction of Penn Station

"We will probably be judged not by the monuments we build but by those we have destroyed." —New York Times Editorial, Oct. 30, 1963

{Said following its destruction}: "One entered the city like a god; one scuttles in now like a rat." —Vincent Scully, Professor Emeritus of Architecture, Yale University

The fall of a New York architectural martyr
by Alex Q. Arbuckle



1911 Image: Geo. P. Hall & Son/The New York Historical Society/Getty Images



c. 1950 Image: Hulton Archive/Getty Images

[Warpy]

1. Thank Robert Moses

who supported the demolition of the beautiful above ground structure and construction of a maze of rodent tunnels under ground to take its place. He was also responsible for hacking neighborhoods apart with superhighways. He was the worse of a bad bunch in the 40s-60s who advocated mowing down neighborhoods in order to erect high rise monstrosities sitting in sterile moonscapes of concrete and maybe an occasional island of a tree and a little grass, usually filled with broken glass and other litter.

It's only now we're fully appreciating the vandalism such men accomplished in the name of modernity and efficiency.

He died in bed, rich and only mildly disgraced.