Last Tuesday, when Natalie, Ben and I were downtown, we decided to drive up Broadway to take a look at the old New York Central Train terminal, which, as you can see in the image above, was a pretty neat piece of art deco architecture. As has been true for quite a few years, the place was largely deserted aside from us, a lone cop car, a mailman eating lunch in his truck, and another young man who came over to us and introduced himself as a reporter from the
Buffalo News. It seems we happened to come out on the day that the Terminal's famous four-sided clock was being restored to its past home. You can read about the clock (along with a slightly misquoted comment from yours truly
here). While there, Ben noted a website on a sign outside the main entrance (the building itself was closed) for a group that is working on restoring the facility, and when he checked it later at home discovered there was to be a formal re-dedication of the clock on Saturday, the 80th anniversary of the Terminal's opening. So naturally, we went back down to get a look at the inside of the place.
A fair number of people turned out for the ceremony, and there were a number of train enthusiast groups with tables set out with photos from the heyday of the railroads in Buffalo and other places (including one that had blueprints of the terminal).
A swing band was providing some "historical" music that hearkened back to the good old days of rail travel, and we got a chance to wander around and see something of what the old place looked like when it was functional, and a lot more of how much decay has occurred in teh twenty years or so since it was essentially abandoned.
One gets something of the sense of what a bustling place this once was, and the size and expanse of ticket windows and baggage areas (in front of which Ben and Natalie are standing above), the numerous newsstands and shops all help conjure how exciting this place was fifty or more years ago.
It seems appropriate to finish with a black and white shot of the band stationed below the large front window of the terminal-- almost like it might've appeared all those years ago. Here's hoping that the enormous job of putting the terminal back into usable shape (for offices, retail, celebrations, whatever) doesn't prove more than the community can accomplish. It really has the potential to return to being the municipal gem it once was.
I almost forgot to include a picture of the clock, the return of which was the focus of the celebration. Let's hope that someday the statue of the bison that was the other major icon of the Terminal will be replaced too.
Last Tuesday, when Natalie, Ben and I were downtown, we decided to drive up Broadway to take a look at the old New York Central Train terminal, which, as you can see in the image above, was a pretty neat piece of art deco architecture. As has been true for quite a few years, the place was largely deserted aside from us, a lone cop car, a mailman eating lunch in his truck, and another young man who came over to us and introduced himself as a reporter from the Buffalo News. It seems we happened to come out on the day that the Terminal's famous four-sided clock was being restored to its past home. You can read about the clock (along with a slightly misquoted comment from yours truly here). While there, Ben noted a website on a sign outside the main entrance (the building itself was closed) for a group that is working on restoring the facility, and when he checked it later at home discovered there was to be a formal re-dedication of the clock on Saturday, the 80th anniversary of the Terminal's opening. So naturally, we went back down to get a look at the inside of the place.
A fair number of people turned out for the ceremony, and there were a number of train enthusiast groups with tables set out with photos from the heyday of the railroads in Buffalo and other places (including one that had blueprints of the terminal).
A swing band was providing some "historical" music that hearkened back to the good old days of rail travel, and we got a chance to wander around and see something of what the old place looked like when it was functional, and a lot more of how much decay has occurred in teh twenty years or so since it was essentially abandoned.
One gets something of the sense of what a bustling place this once was, and the size and expanse of ticket windows and baggage areas (in front of which Ben and Natalie are standing above), the numerous newsstands and shops all help conjure how exciting this place was fifty or more years ago.
It seems appropriate to finish with a black and white shot of the band stationed below the large front window of the terminal-- almost like it might've appeared all those years ago. Here's hoping that the enormous job of putting the terminal back into usable shape (for offices, retail, celebrations, whatever) doesn't prove more than the community can accomplish. It really has the potential to return to being the municipal gem it once was.
I almost forgot to include a picture of the clock, the return of which was the focus of the celebration. Let's hope that someday the statue of the bison that was the other major icon of the Terminal will be replaced too.
1 comment:
Dr John,
Don't know if you remember but there was a cool scene from "The Natural" that featured the terminal (don't know which town it was suppose to represent)- Still a cool place
Lil' Sis
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