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Governor Pataki and Mayor Bloomberg officially unveiled plans for the new Moynihan Station yesterday. Pataki heralded it as a "magnificent gateway for New York," and Bloomberg proclaimed, "The Daniel Patrick Moynihan station is another example of the spirit to build big and build grand, redressing one of the most tragic architectural crimes in the city's history." You can read more about the crime of razing the old Penn Station here at Wikipedia.
The project, which costs over $800 million, will bring in over 10,000 temporary jobs and over 3,000 permanent jobs; the facade will start its restoration this year, and the construction within the building begins next year, with the station completion by 2010 (though we expect it to be more like the 2010's). Of course, the NY Landmarks Preservation Group is thrilled, as is Moynihan's daughter Maura who has been fighting to get this project off the ground for a while. Curbed notes that the new building's roof is undulating, versus the previous scalloped roofline (seen here).
You can see images of the new Moynihan Station here at NY Loves Biz. And Mayor Bloomberg is really short, especially when he's next to Governor Pataki.
Photograph by Newsday
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Thank God.
I hope this teaches Mayor Bling that things can still be done in NY. They just have to be good ideas that the people (for whom you work) are behind.
You have to admit, some of the greatest development in a while has been brought to the light of day under Bloomie: Calatrava's PATH station and his 80 South Street tower, the Gehry HQ for InterActive, the Meier towers (even if they do leak) Moynihan Station, Norman Foster's Hearst Tower. . . . . I personally am thrilled that New York is getting some beautiful and original architecture again.
It's not bad, but the undulating roof does nothing for me. It feels a little too ephemeral, too flimsy, like there isn't much there. I always catch my breath when I see the pictures of old Penn Station, with its beefy steel columns leading up to spectacular steel and glass vaults that really gave a sense of being substantial, as if it were the biggest subway station you've ever seen.
But where's the NY Times? Why are they AWOL on this story? There's nothing about the new design in today's online edition.
This does looks nice. I wonder how hard/easy it is to maintain?
This project has been delayed for over 10 years. I'll believe it when I see the steam shovels...
www.forgotten-ny.com
Whatever they do, please don't let Pataki touch it.
I like the shape of the undulating roof. It looks like the design was lifted out of the Gaudi design for the wtc site. What I don't like is the chicken wire look. I don't understand the fascination these guys have with chicken wire. Did the designer grow up on a chicken farm and sees the transit riding public as poultry? I would like to see them keep the shape of the roof, but give it a cleaner less busy look. What I object to more is that the model does away with the water filled moats around the perimeter of the building. Bring back the water moats!
And is Patricia Heaton really short or is Brad Garrett really tall?
Why isn't Amtrack in on this? Does this mean that Penn will be all Amtrack and Moynihan will be LIRR and Subway only? That's not too smart.
Burg: I'm assuming that it's because Amtrak is, as usual, dead broke, and can't afford to participate.
I might add the following web saying to my "Big Apple" dictionary web page:
...
http://hrshbrgr.com/humor.htm
"Yield not to Penn Station, but deliver us from evil."
It's true, this is good progress, but still nothing compared to the old Penn Station. As stated in the Wikipedia article: "Architectural historian Vincent Scully once wrote, 'One entered the city like a god, one scuttles in now like a rat.'"
To think that we could still have that today is heartbreaking.
Yeah, N, the old penn station looks great. Why don't these fuckers just use the vacant railyards to rebuild the original penn station and forget about the sports stadiums. I'd be up for that.
burg: The main tenant in the new building will be NJ Transit, which is huge. LIRR is trying to build a tunnel to and then eventually an entirely new station under Grand Central (East Side Access). Moynihan unfortunately doesn't bring any new tracks but it will help alleviate crowding in the passageways and waiting areas in Penn Station. NJ Transit will probably have more tracks at their disposal once East Side Access is complete. Amtrak... who the heck knows at this point.
What Amtrak needs is to be eliminated and its rights of way turned over to companies willing to build true high speed trains. We might actually be riding in 300mph maglev trains today if Amtrak didn't have all the valuable rights of way tied up and private companies knew they wouldn't have to compete against a federally subsidized organization.
The West Side railyard isn't vacant. Trains coming and going between New Jersey and Penn Station pass through that.
"Any city gets what it admires, will pay for, and, ultimately, deserves. Even when we had Penn Station, we couldn’t afford to keep it clean. We want and deserve tin-can architecture in a tinhorn culture. And we will probably be judged not by the monuments we build but by those we have destroyed."
- "Farewell to Penn Station,"
New York Times editorial
October 30, 1963
Yes demolishing the old Penn Station for MSG was a "architectural crime" but why repeat that same mistake and destroy this lovely post office?