The Late, Great Pennsylvania Station

Rating:
Summary: Moves you to tears
Review: ...that such a magnificent work of art was not deemed worthy of preservation in 1963. In the opinion of a number of architectural historians, Pennsylvania Station was the grandest building ever erected in the United States. The photos in this marvelous book certainly make that case very convincingly. And they give me an overwhelming sense of melancholy. I'm just a tad too young to have any recollection of the lost station, but I regularly pass through its depressing successor. One architectural critic opined that whereas the old station made you feel like royalty in entering the City of New York, the current station makes you feel like a scurrying rat. Lorraine B. Diehl is passionate about her subject. She grew up in the neighborhood, and the great station fascinated her from childhood, when it was a vast, wondrous world for her and other kids. As she matured, she came to appreciate not only the architectural details, but the station as a backdrop to American history, witnessing the comings and goings of countless people in peace and in war. In one of her favorite quotations, Thomas Wolfe (in "You Can't Go Home Again") said that the great station was "vast enough to hold the sound of time." Whether you're interested in railroads, architecture, engineering (the story of how the railroad tunnelled under the Hudson River and built the station is fascinating in itself) or history, this book is a must read. If you're ever in New York, make a point of taking one of the author's free tours of the station, 12:30 PM on the 4th Monday of each month from the information desk. She's as an engaging a guide as she is an author, and you'll see some hidden remnants of the old station that other visitors can't.

Rating:
Summary: Looking back at New York's lost treasure
Review: I was barely seven years old when old Penn Station was torn down, but I remember the sadness and outrage of my neighbors in Brooklyn. I had only been to the station once or twice but I was too young to remember. I didn't really understand the big fuss about its destruction. And after it was gone, I don't remember there being too much grieving.

Now looking back, through films and books, I understand what it was all about. "The Late, Great Pennsylvania Station" by Lorraine B. Diehl is the best book on the subject that I've come across. Her analysis of the rise and fall of McKim's great station is both awe-inspiring and heart-breaking. The smattering of beautiful photographs is a plus, as well. Penn Station's demise, of course, could be regarded solely as a loss for the city but, as Ms. Diehl explains, the real legacy of the destruction was the enormous preservation/conservation movement that followed. In the aftermath, so many other buildings were spared a similar fate.

There are those who say that the people behind Penn Station's demolition were justified (Ms. Diehl rightly avoids villifying anyone). The apologists for the destruction claim that Penn Station was too big, in the wrong place, and was in the red. The Empire State Building was erected ten blocks south of the midtown business area and three miles north of the Wall Street district. It was a very big building and rarely had over 50% occupancy until the 1950s, when it finally began earning money. Should it have been knocked down too?

Rating:
Summary: Insightful book
Review: If you've heard of Penn Station and its destruction, but don't know the history or details, this is EXACTLY the book you are looking for if you want to know about it. It includes an entertaining and informative history of the station, amazing pictures, and remarkable insight into the forces that led to the station's destruction.

It is simultaneously a fond tribute to an architectural masterpiece, and a saddening description of civic apathy.

Hopefully Ms. Diehl will put out another edition with updates and description of plans for a new Penn Station.

Rating:
Summary: Destruction Of A Monument
Review: Lorraine B. Diehl has written an account that covers the birth, life and death of the former Pennsylvania Railroad station that will make you feel like you have walked in the station yourself.From the story of the sandhog tunneling under the Hudson river to the sculptor who carved the stone eagles perched above the entrances, Diehlbuilds an image in your mind along with the wonderful photographs through out the book that will evoke a feeling of loss without ever having stepped foot inside.This detailed and well researched account will make an excellent additionto any architecture or railfans bookshelf.

Rating:
Summary: A poetic, heartfelt tribute to a lost monument.
Review: There are many losses for which we mourn, but one might never expect to mourn for a building, let alone an old train station. But Pennsylvania Station itself was as monumental as the tragedy of its thoughtless, needless destruction by the greedy, short-sighted ends of small-minded businessmen, and the inexplicable and inexcusable civic apathy that let it happen. Today's Madison Square Garden is the most horrendously designed sports arena in the nation; that and the pitiful remains of Penn Station that lie buried beneath it only deepen the wounds inflicted by the loss of McKim, Mead and White's masterpiece.

Diehl paints a loving portrait of a stone and steel palace of mythical proportions, one so vivid and poetic that the very idea of this magnificent, colossal monument lying in ruins while a banal pile of concrete went up in its place becomes truly heartbreaking. Through this book Penn Station becomes in death what it was in life: romantic, majestic, inspiring.

Rating:
Summary: Moving Book -- Needed More Pictures
Review: This was a moving book that made me wish I was around to see Penn Station in all of its glory. The author does not hide her disgust for the new structure -- often calling it "squalid". I couldn't agree more. The only think worse than the current station is the horrendous arena that sits above it.

One wish, though -- for more photographs.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent history, not overly sentimential
Review: Too many people moan and groan over the 'loss' of Penn Station. People forget that it was a white elephant, built in the wrong place, too big, except in WWII, and far beyond the abilities of the Pennsylvania RR to support by 1960. The author does a good job laying out the story of the building of the station and its sad, slow decline. Remember, there are no villians here. The author is to be commended for not falling back on easily answers to why the station fell. First rate.