Norman McGrath photographs of Penn Station
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Abstract
This collection documents the demolition of Penn Station from 1963-1966, including photographs of the station's interior and exterior photographs taken from a bird's-eye view across the street at the Hotel Pennsylvania.
Biographical / Historical
Norman McGrath is an English-American photographer who specializes in architecture and interiors. He was born in 1931 in London and grew up in Dublin, where he studied engineering at Trinity College. A few years after graduating, McGrath moved to New York with the intent of becoming a structural engineer; after being fired from his engineering job of four years, he decided to take up photography as a part-time vocation alongside other engineering work.
During his transition to photography in the early 1960s, McGrath worked as an engineer at the Hotel Pennsylvania, which sat across 7th Avenue from Penn Station. During a workshop with Harper's Bazaar art director Alexey Brodovitch, he chose to start a project documenting the station's gradual demolition over the course of the 1960s. His bird's-eye view from the hotel allowed him expansive exterior shots.
His photographs of Penn Station established him as an architectural photographer, and he has continued to work in architectural photography. His photos have appeared in architectural publications, commercial projects, and magazines. In 1985, the American Institute of Architects selected him for its Institute Honor.
Arrangement
The photographs are in the order in which they were received from the photographer.
Scope and Contents
This collection includes 50 photographs McGrath took while documenting the gradual demolition of New York's Penn Station between 1963 and 1966. The original Pennsylvania Station, completed in 1910, was a Beaux-Arts masterpiece designed by McKim, Mead and White. By the early 1960s, the station's deterioriation, high operating cost, and lower train ridership led to its replacement with a smaller underground station and Madison Square Garden at street level. Photographs in the collection include interior and exterior shots exhibiting the scale of the McKim, Mead and White building in all stages of deconstruction. Specific areas of interest include the Waiting Hall, the Concourse, and the Arcade.
McGrath made these prints in the 2020s from scans of his original negatives and slides, and many of the photographs include information about the original camera and film and details of how he reprinted the image. Some photographs were part of an exhibit McGrath did in 2024 showcasing the demolition. Titles and dates are taken from McGrath's notes on the verso of each photograph; he also signed each photograph on the verso.
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Organizations
Access Restrictions
Materials in this collection may be stored offsite. For more information on making arrangements to consult them, please visit www.nyhistory.org/library/visit.
Use Restrictions
Application to use images from this collection for publication should be made in writing to: Department of Rights and Reproductions, The New York Historical, 170 Central Park West, New York, NY 10024-5194, rightsandrepro@nyhistory.org.
Preferred Citation
The collection should be cited as: Norman McGrath Photographs of Penn Station, PR 483, Department of Prints, Photographs, and Architectural Collections, The New York Historical.
Location of Materials
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Norman McGrath, 2024
Other Finding Aids
The New York Historical holds several other collections related to Penn Station, including McKim Mead and White Architectural Records (PR 42), Alexander Hatos Photograph Collection (PR 48), George P. Hall and Son Photograph Collection (PR 24), the Robert L. Bracklow Photograph Collection (PR 8), the Bob Stonehill Collection of New York City Postcards (PR 472), the Geographic Images Collection (PR 20), the Postcard Collection (PR 54), the Poster Collection (PR 55) the Photographer File (PR 50), the Irving Browning Photograph Collection (PR 9), and the William J. Roege Photograph Collection (PR 181).
About this Guide
Processing Information
The photographs were transferred to archival folders in groups of 10 photographs.