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Bar in grand central station11/20/2023 ![]() The dynasty began with Cornelius “Commodore” Vanderbilt, a self-made shipping and railroad tycoon who amassed a multi-million-dollar fortune throughout much of the 19th century, including gaining control of the New York Central Railroad in 1867. ![]() ![]() Today, the Vanderbilt name is associated with one of the wealthiest families of America’s Gilded Age, but this wasn’t always the case. There Are Acorns and Oak Leaves Everywhere Here are the stories behind eight of them. Despite being open to the public for more than a century, and approximately 750,000 people passing through the complex each day, Grand Central Terminal has retained a few secrets and hidden features. “Grand Central Terminal represents one of those buildings where it was built with money as almost no object, intended to be left as a legacy by one person who consulted others as to how to build an efficient, useful, but also aesthetically stunning building.”įinally, there’s the mystery. “Today, public places are designed by committee and often by politicians who are not experts in urban design, architecture, etc.,” Young explains. There is also the visual allure of the grandiose terminal. Grand Central epitomizes that, and is the child of New York City's preservation movement.” “That dynamism is part of the city's appeal, but its identity is actually about a delicate balance between modernizing and respecting the past. “New York City is constantly tearing itself down and rebuilding,” says Michelle Young, an adjunct professor of architecture at Columbia University, and founder of Untapped New York, an online magazine that also offers tours of the city's hidden gems, including one on the Secrets of Grand Central. But preserving the past hasn’t stood in the way of upgrades to meet the city’s needs, such as the addition of Grand Central Madison, a station beneath the historic terminal that debuted in January 2023. Committees and individuals, including former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, fought to keep it standing. Unlike many of the city’s other architecturally significant structures from the late-19th and early-20th centuries, Grand Central wasn’t demolished in the name of progress. Why are people so fascinated by Grand Central? More than a century later, with the golden age of rail travel firmly in the past, the Beaux-Arts masterpiece continues to draw visitors from around the world in fact, it’s the second-most-visited destination in New York City, after Times Square. On February 2, 1913, at exactly midnight, members of the public started streaming through the doors of the newly constructed Grand Central Terminal to get their first glimpse of the architectural and engineering marvel.
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