Grand Central Terminal 42 Street Facade

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This photograph shows the 42 street facade of the Grand Central Terminal in New York city. This is a relatively low resolution derivative of the original hi-res photo. I have to say the original was stunning and this one is nice too. The statue "Transportation", alternatively "The Glory of Commerce" adorns the top of Grand Central Terminal facing south. You can also see the tiffany clock. We can see the statue of Cornelius Vanderbilt below the tiffany clock.

Glory of Commerce / Transportation Statue

The Glory of Commerce sculptural group rests atop the terminal's facade, directly above a broken pediment featuring a large clock. The work is also known as Progress with Mental and Physical Force or Transportation. It is about 48 feet (15 m) tall, 66 feet (20 m) wide, and weighs about 1,500 short tons (1,400 t). At its unveiling in 1914, the work was considered the largest sculptural group in the world.

The work includes representations of Minerva, Hercules, and Mercury. The sculptures were designed by French sculptor Jules-Félix Coutan and carved by the John Donnelly Company. Coutan created the model in his Paris studio and shipped it to New York City later.

Mercury is standing at the top center of the work, depicted traditionally with a caduceus and wearing a winged helmet, with loose drapery concealing otherwise complete nudity. He is standing in a contrapposto pose in front of an eagle, wings outstretched, peering around his right leg. Two other gods are depicted to Mercury's left and right: the male figure to his right is typically and officially deemed to be Hercules, though he lacks the god's characteristic club and lionskin. Instead, the god is depicted among an anchor, cogwheel, anvil and hammer, a beehive, grapes, wheat ears and a sickle. Many of these are symbols of Vulcan, who is depicted with Minerva and Mercury in other works. He is also nearly naked, staring at Mercury above him. The female figure, Minerva, is resting her head on her left arm, looking down at a roll of parchment on her lap. She is depicted among a globe, a measuring compass, volumes of books and thick wreaths of laurel.

The work is seen as attempting to fulfil several goals: portraying the terminal itself as a new technology, representing the Vanderbilt family, and serving as an artistic piece to parallel European art and architecture of the time.

The Tiffany Clock

There is a 13-foot-wide (4.0 m) Tiffany clock on top of the south facade. The clock face uses Roman numerals; its numeral "IIII" is traditional for clock faces displaying the number four, instead of the more common "IV". The numeral "VI", on the bottom of the clock, hides a flap that is used for maintenance.

Statue of Cornelius Vanderbilt

A statue of Cornelius Vanderbilt, long-time owner of the New York Central, stands at the center of the terminal's south facade, directly below its clock and facing the Park Avenue Viaduct. The work was sculpted by Ernst Plassmann, and is of bronze, 8.5 feet (2.6 m) tall and weighing 4 tons, with a 9-foot-tall granite pedestal. It depicts Vanderbilt bareheaded and in his commonly-seen winter clothes, including a heavy double-breasted and fur-trimmed overcoat. He is posed in a noble way, described as Jeffersonian, with one hand on his chest and another outstretched. It was the largest bronze statue cast in the United States at the time.

The statue was created as part of a bronze bas-relief on the facade of the Hudson River Railroad depot at St. John's Park in the present-day neighborhood of Tribeca. The bas-relief was 150-foot (46 m) long and depicted various components of Vanderbilt's life, including his steamships and trains. The relief and statue were generally designed by Albert De Groot, a steamship captain under Vanderbilt, though they were sculpted by Plassmann.

Unveiled and dedicated in November 1869, the works received much criticism from newspapers and other writers; the New York Times said such a tribute ought to include "the dismembered bodies of men, women and children" killed in the New York Central's open rail yards to the north.

This criticism may have convinced Vanderbilt to abandon his plans for another statue of himself, to have been installed at Grand Central Depot, which was built in 1871. The planned statue was to have been part of a grouping designed by De Groot with a sailor at one side and Native American at the other.

In 1929, Plassmann's statue was moved to Grand Central Terminal. Once again, it received criticism in the press.

Beaux-Arts Architecture

Beaux-Arts architecture was the academic architectural style taught at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, particularly from the 1830s to the end of the 19th century. It drew upon the principles of French neoclassicism, but also incorporated Renaissance and Baroque elements, and used modern materials, such as iron and glass. It was an important style in France until the end of the 19th century.

The Beaux-Arts training emphasized the mainstream examples of Imperial Roman architecture between Augustus and the Severan emperors, Italian Renaissance, and French and Italian Baroque models especially, but the training could then be applied to a broader range of models: Quattrocento Florentine palace fronts or French late Gothic. American architects of the Beaux-Arts generation often returned to Greek models, which had a strong local history in the American Greek Revival of the early 19th century. For the first time, repertories of photographs supplemented meticulous scale drawings and on-site renderings of details.

Grand Central Terminal

Grand Central Terminal (GCT; also referred to as Grand Central Station or simply as Grand Central) is a commuter rail terminal located at 42nd Street and Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Grand Central is the southern terminus of the Metro-North Railroad's Harlem, Hudson and New Haven Lines, serving the northern parts of the New York metropolitan area. It also contains a connection to the New York City Subway at Grand Central-42nd Street station. The terminal is the second-busiest train station in North America, after New York Penn Station.

The distinctive architecture and interior design of Grand Central Terminal's station house have earned it several landmark designations, including as a National Historic Landmark. Its Beaux-Arts design incorporates numerous works of art. Grand Central Terminal is one of the world's ten most visited tourist attractions, with 21.6 million visitors in 2018, excluding train and subway passengers. The terminal's Main Concourse is often used as a meeting place, and is especially featured in films and television. Grand Central Terminal contains a variety of stores and food vendors, including upscale restaurants and bars, two food halls, and a grocery marketplace.

Grand Central Terminal was built by and named for the New York Central Railroad; it also served the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad and, later, successors to the New York Central. Opened in 1913, the terminal was built on the site of two similarly-named predecessor stations, the first of which dates to 1871. Grand Central Terminal served intercity trains until 1991, when Amtrak began routing its trains through nearby Penn Station. The East Side Access project, which will bring Long Island Rail Road service to the new Grand Central Madison station beneath the terminal, is expected to be completed in late 2022.

Grand Central covers 48 acres (19 ha) and has 44 platforms, more than any other railroad station in the world. Its platforms, all below ground, serve 30 tracks on the upper level and 26 on the lower. In total, there are 67 tracks, including a rail yard and sidings; of these, 43 tracks are in use for passenger service, while the remaining two dozen are used to store trains. Another eight tracks and four platforms are being built on two new levels deep underneath the existing station as part of East Side Access.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.