The gods have overlooked 42nd St. since 1914, when it was thought to be the largest sculptural group in the world. (J.C. Rice)
Tracking Time: On the outside of Grand Central Terminal on the 42nd St. side, giant sculptures of Minerva, Hercules, and Mercury designed by French sculptor Jules-Felix Coutan surround a clock, 13 feet in circumference, made with the world’s largest example of Tiffany glass. (Gregory P. Mango)
Grand Central Terminal will be striking up the band tomorrow as celebrations take place to commemorate its 100th anniversary.
Caroline Kennedy, whose mother, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, helped save the terminal from the wrecking ball in 1968, will be on hand, along with Centennial Committee members including Mets World Series champion and former first baseman Keith Hernandez and “Sex in the City” alum Cynthia Nixon. Bronx-born singer Melissa Manchester will also take part in the ceremonies.
Thirty-five years after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Grand Central Terminal couldn’t be torn down so a skyscraper could go up in its place, tomorrow’s events will showcase public dancing, lots of singing, and bands including the Westchester Philharmonic Brass Octet, Staten Island’s Susan Wagner High School Jazz Band and the West Point Brass & Percussion Band’s world premiere performance of “Grand Central Centennial Fanfare.”
The East Japan Railway Company, whose own Tokyo station turns 100 next year, will also be on hand to salute Grand Central.
Designed by Reed & Stem and Warren & Wetmore to house the newfangled electrified trains underground as well as creating main grand concourses and waiting rooms to be enjoyed by the people, the giant terminal was completed in 1913.
Engineer William Wilgus, who electrified the trains and brought the rails and yards underground, also looked upward. He designed spaces for the future mechanical systems of a dozen buildings to later be developed around the terminal and up along Park Avenue on the first “air rights” lots.
Many years later, when preserving the terminal, the city created a special Grand Central zoning district to enable its air rights to be sold by its railroad ownership and transferred so as to allow larger buildings to be built around the terminal, with the proceeds targeted toward its upkeep. But the decades-long legal battles over the terminal’s preservation had left plenty of deferred maintenance.
Centennial Chairman Peter E. Stangl, former chairman of the MTA, which operates Grand Central, recalled during the Oct. 1, 1998, renovation celebration that when they took over operations from Penn Central in 1983, they had to start somewhere and did so by fixing the leaky roof. “Because if it leaked,” Stangl said, “it wouldn’t make sense to do anything else.”
Among the initial renovations was one that generated a lot of controversy. Despite the loss of $450,000 per year in revenue, the beloved but immense Kodak Colorama photograph signage was taken down from above the ticket windows, and the next morning natural sunlight greeted commuters as it streamed in over the east balcony from three previously hidden windows.
* The agency continued to stem the neglect of the Beaux Arts building, cleaning 10,000 panes of glass and hiring architects Beyer Blinder Belle to restore the terminal to its original magnificence. The over $200 million worth of work was celebrated in 1998 with both Caroline Kennedy and her late brother, John F. Kennedy Jr., in attendance as then-Governor George Pataki recalled, “… Jackie Kennedy summed it up best: If we don’t care about our past, we cannot hope for our future.”
* Today, the roof’s unique blue Sky Ceiling highlighting the constellations continues to provide a brilliant, starry surprise for those who look upward — with only a few realizing that all the stars are backward, as if they were being seen from deep space.
* The creamy marble is clean, the brass rails and chandeliers sparkle, and throughout its nooks and crannies, the entire venue is now a place to linger, photograph and visit even as its over 5,000,000 daily commuters charge their way through the dawdlers.
* There are now a multitude of shops — including the new destination Apple store — that provide shop-portunities and distractions (see sotry, page 50.) Many shops and restaurants are featuring special 1913 pricing tomorrow on certain items, such as a 6-cent loaf of rye bread being sold by Zaro’s Bakery. Eating choices range from muffins and takeout to the vaulted and landmarked Grand Central Oyster Bar & Restaurant, which will offer 19-cent slices of cheesecake to tomorrow’s diners. White table dining can be found at Michael Jordan’s The Steak House, N.Y.C., which will offer 75-cent Adirondack cocktails, while Pescatore Restaurant will be serving up 13-cent mussels and clams. As always, there will be genteel martini sipping at the stunning Campbell Apartment.
* Tomorrow’s exhibitions will also include a giant Grand Central replica made entirely of Legos by employees of the soon-to-open Legoland Discovery Center at Westchester’s Ridge Hill. This Grand Lego Terminal can be viewed at the Station Master’s Office.
* As rush hour winds down around 6:30 p.m., the public can start dancing in the Main Concourse to New York City’s Rhythm Collective. At 8:25 p.m., Grammy Award-winning Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks will take over for an hour, with plenty of dancers expected to turn out in period dress.