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Manhattan - The Place for City Art
New York Art World |
City by Train |
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| City Lights - Transformer at Railroad Station by Honeg |
The El by Chris Pelletiere |
Grand Central Station, Manhattan |
| Since Manhattan rests on solid rock, it was logical that the elevated Patent Railroad System first tested on Greenwich Street in 1867 would be approved by the city. The train was raised to a distance of 30 feet or more above the street level and ran on steel braced tracks. Beginning in 1867 the "Els" were drawn by steam engines rather than cable. Eventually the tracks ran the length of Ninth Avenue, Sixth, Third and Second Avenues where they serviced the Lower East Side and crossed the river to Brooklyn. The subway system was finally launched by the Rothschild family in 1904. |
There was an open gash running down Fourth Avenue to a terminal called Grand Central Station. Steam and smoke fouled the air in mid-town to an unbearable degree.With rare boldness, New York Central agreed to electrify its city lines, it rebuilt Grand Central into one of the most beautiful examples of Beaux Arts architecture to be found anywhere. Crowned by the sculpted figures of Hercules, Mercury and Minerva, Grand Central went into operation in 1913 and within 20 years Fourth Avenue was renamed Park Avenue. The station's system of underground connecting ramps and transfers to Times Square were to serve as the model for the underground concourse at Rockefeller Center. Most remarkable of all, the station converted Park Avenue into a combination of commercial and residential boulevard, divided by trees. The wideness of the sreet, uncommon in New York, resulted in an architectural mix in which the old and very new exist side by side. |
| City Lights - Transformer at Railroad Station |
The El |
Grand Central |